Firm’s biggest auction of the year raises £23 million

Over £23 million of land and property was sold by Clive Emson Auctioneers at its autumn auction.

Achieving a sale rate of 79%, the company catalogued 179 lots for the auction – its biggest so far in 2017. In total, the auction took place over five days at five regional venues.

“This has been a year full of challenges and uncertainty, but what remains certain is that people trust bricks and mortar,” James Emson, managing director of Clive Emson Auctioneers, said.

“Property and land auctions keep growing market share as both vendors and purchasers continue to trust us to get it right.”

He added that the appetite for property remains undimmed despite the recent rise in interest rates, which he believes will have only a very modest impact on the market.

“There is an underlying resilience in the UK housing and commercial property market which has not been shaken too much by Brexit, the general election or stamp duty and tax changes and retains overall stability,” he continued.

“We look forward to our December auction, which is always a festive occasion, with a host of Christmas crackers for all tastes and pockets.”

The firm, which works closely with more than 850 high street estate agents across the south of England, was first founded in 1989 and aims to provide ‘a specialist land and property auctioneering service’.

The latest auction included a now boarded up beach front building in Viking Bay, Broadstairs. The building – previously used as a toilet block, a shelter and a lift shaft – sold for £350,000 from a guide price of just £50,000. Cornwall Council, meanwhile, sold five residential properties in Liskeard, Callington and Torpoint for £407,500, while a three-storey former bank building on a corner plot in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, fetched more than £750,000.

Elsewhere, a fierce bidding war meant land on the sought-after Kingswood Estate in Tadworth, Surrey, went for £285,000 – four times the higher freehold guide. Lastly, a 1,400 sq ft first and second-floor office building located at the Royal Arcade in Boscombe, Bournemouth, sold for £90,000.

Every six weeks Clive Emson holds a regional auction at five different locations across the country. The firm’s December auctions, which all begin at 11am, take place at the following venues: Kent & SE London – Monday December 11 at the Clive Emson Conference Centre, Detling, Maidstone, Kent; Hampshire & Isle of Wight – Tuesday December 12 at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton; Essex & North and East London – Wednesday December 13 at the Chelmsford City Racecourse, Chelmsford; Sussex & Surrey – Thursday December 14 at the Hilton Brighton Metropole, Brighton; West Country - Friday December 15, at the St Mellion International Resort, Saltash.