High demand from national and international investors for strong performing assets across all property sectors helped Allsop raise more than £87m at its second commercial auction of the year this week, with an overall success rate of 87% which is expected to increase further as investors negotiate post-auction deals for unsold lots over the next few days.

Retail parades in London were as popular as ever at the sale, which took place on Monday 27 March at Claridge’s, while there was also high demand for the leisure sector, as illustrated by lot 83, a McDonald’s by the M1 in Chesterfield, which sold for £1.64m (5.1% gross yield).

Overall, A grade retail yields remained constant from the February at 5.6%, and B grade yields sharpened to 7.8% from 8.8%.

Trading activity in the auction room was also evident. One example, Lot 27, The George Shopping Centre in Grantham was bought at auction within the last 18 months.  With over 45 well managed lettings now in place, the lot went under the hammer yesterday for £2.7m, an increase of over £500,000 since it was last sold.

George Walker, auctioneer and Partner at Allsop, commented: “The market was buoyant and the day was dominated by the larger lots.

“Appetite from domestic and overseas private investor for well-let assets across all sectors was very strong and, with the Bank of England recently upgrading its economic forecasts, we see this demand continuing to strengthen.”