Sales at a property auction in London this week eclipsed the £25 million mark, hitting a record high in the process.

The event was hosted by Auction House London and the most significant lot of the day was an empty site in Luton which sold for £4.9 million – the highest ever value lot sold by the firm.

The site, which was given a guide price of £4.5 million before the event, has planning permission to build accommodation for 180 students, as well as 84 flats and an area for shops and amenities.

Property in the capital also fared well, encouraging some fierce bidding wars, Auction House London reports.

A three bedroom detached home in Neasden sold for £868,000 after a 20 minute bidding war which resulted in the property being sold for almost double its original £475,000 guide price. 

Another lot which far exceed its guide price comprised two Edwardian purpose-built flats in need of ‘total modernisation’.

The flats, located in Willesden, ended up selling for £706,000, after initially being guided at £500,000.

At the other end of the scale, the cheapest lot of the day was a burial plot at a planned woodland cemetery near Halstead in Kent, which sold for £6,200.

“We have just broken some impressive earlier records, by a long way,” says Andrew Binstock, Auction House London’s auctioneer and managing director.

“Our job is to encourage sellers to take a calculated risk when agreeing the minimum price they are willing to sell. If they are brave they have the chance of attracting more buyers with their hands in the air at auction, and the strong possibility the resulting sale price is much much higher.”

Auction House London’s next sale takes place on December 9 at the Landmark Hotel on Marylebone Road in London.