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Auction roundup: February 2018

February has already seen strong auction activity across the board, with many lots snapped up and sold at whopping prices well over their guide price. Here, we present an auction roundup for 2018 so far.

Allsop

Allsop has released a bumper catalogue for its first residential auction of 2018. The auction room will feature 304 lots and offer almost a quarter more lots than the February sale last year.

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Its February catalogue comprises 26 lots at £1 million or more, ranging from a castle in a seaside location to large scale redevelopment opportunities.

One of the main attractions is lot 75, Westbury Castle – a large property by the coast in Flintshire, Wales, offered at between £1.5 million and £2 million. The castle includes 12 bedrooms, a west wing providing nine self-contained apartments and a chapel with a bell tower.

Lot 82, 8 Albert Studios in Battersea is guided at over £1 million – an artist studio with ten garages that have been owned by the same family since the early 1900s.

Other lots offer mixed use and development opportunities. For example, lot 30, a freehold site occupied by a two-storey commercial building in Richmond upon Thames is guided at £3.75 million-plus. The site has planning consent to provide 20 new apartments with 5,757 sq ft of commercial space.

Lots 25 and 26 also have planning consent for conversion to 207 apartments. The two freehold office buildings guide collectively for £12.25 million-plus and are likely to be popular during auction.

“This first catalogue of the year comprises a wide spectrum of investment and development opportunities from a variety of sellers,” said Richard Adamson, partner and auctioneer at Allsop. “Despite the political backdrop, we anticipate lots that are sensibly priced to remain highly attractive to investors in the room.”

“Furthermore, there are 19 regulated tenancy investments on offer which are historically keenly sought after.”

The auction will take place at InterContinental London Park Lane, One Hamilton Place, Park Lane, Mayfair on February 15. The catalogue can be viewed online.

Strettons

Strettons started its 2018 auction calendar off strongly, with the auction raising £7.5 million and selling 91% of the lots on offer.

The 94-lot auction quickly became the biggest sale since 2010, with the highest price of the sale achieved by the first lot of the day. A freehold vacant house for repair on Princedale Road, Notting Hill, sold for £1.77 million off a guide price of between £1.4 million and £1.5 million.

Other residential sales included a freehold vacant house for repair in Forest Gate, which sold for £395,000, and a freehold double fronted property arranged as two flats (one assured shorthold tenancy and one regulated) in Illford, which sold for £525,000. Meanwhile, a freehold vacant bungalow in Middlesex with planning permission for two x 4-bedroom detached houses sold for £635,000.

Commercial properties also garnered interest, with several selling for above guide price. A freehold vacant double shop and first floor flat in Feltham, Middlesex, sold for almost twice the guide price (between £300,000 and £325,000) with the hammer eventually going down at £588,000. A former snooker hall in Winchmore Hill also saw a queue of bidders, guided at £300,000-plus and eventually selling for £490,000.

A variety of ground rent investments also added to the overall sale total.

Commenting on the sale, Philip Waterfield, director of Strettons, said: “It was a busy room but generally there appeared to be an air of caution reflecting uncertainty in the economy against a backdrop of the Bank of England announcing that further interest rate rises are on the horizon.”

The sale took place on February 8 at the Grand Connaught Rooms, London. Lots are now invited for Strettons’ next sale which will be held on March 26.

Network Auctions

Network Auctions have boosted the number of properties offered for sale through their online auction platform product, Network-E.

Bidding will be live for a range of properties across the country and has already attracted interest from potential bidders, including a three-bedroom Edwardian house in Sutton, Surrey that has been in the same family ownership for over 100 years.

Toby Limbrick, director at Network Auctions, commented: “We believe the future is online and so have continued to emphasise this option to vendors and partner agents. We are delighted to see the confidence bidders and sellers have in this new use of technology for selling property.”

“In the last few weeks we have successfully completed on another three sales with Network-E and achieved competitive prices for vendors.”

Network Auctions’ upcoming ballroom auction has also attracted a bumper number of entries, with 35% of the catalogue being supplied by estate agent partners to the network.

Limbrick added: “Our unique offering to estate agents means they can partner with us to join the network and allow them access to sell their stock via auction – whether that’s online or in the ballroom. Partnering with us gives agents additional options and routes to the market.”

The firm’s current catalogue includes locations such as Essex, Kent, London, Middlesex, Devon, Hampshire, Yorkshire, North Shields and Oxfordshire. Network Auctions’ next ballroom will be held on February 22 at 2pm at The Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London.

Clive Emson

Clive Emson Auctioneers sold land and property worth £17 million at its February sale, achieving an 85% sale rate after cataloguing 133 lots.

This strong start to the season follows a record-breaking 2017 – £160 million of sales in total, making it the most successful in the firm’s 30-year history.

James Emson, managing director, said: “We have made a blistering start to the year, carrying our great performance of 2017. It is heartening to see that bricks and mortar continue to be the preferred form of investment for so many people.”

Emson said that growing trends this year include properties with planning consent for additional homes, land with potential future use and lock-up garages let to provide a good income.

Auction highlights included; two semi-detached houses with development and investment potential on a 0.22-hectare (0.56-acre) site near Horsham, Sussex which sold for £600,000 and two-character pubs in Devon, the Hart Inn at Harland, near Bideford and the Kings Arms in Winkleigh, which sold for £145,000 and £206,000 respectively.

Meanwhile, a two-acre site in Dover with possible development potential sold for £175,000, way above the £50,000 guide price, while forty lock-up garages and 14 parking spaces across Aldershot and Farnborough were sold in five lots for a combined £314,000. Lastly, a three-storey, mid-terrace house needing improvement in Ilford went for £432,000 (nearly £100,000 over the guide price) after a 20-minute bidding war.

Emson continued: “Our packed February salerooms and exceptionally strong bidding show that without doubt the auction remains a hugely popular and utterly transparent method of buying and selling.”

“With more homes needed right across Britain, it is no surprise that buyers are investing in land with development potential, particularly that in urban or already expanding areas,” he said.

Clive Emson also holds a regional auction at five locations every six weeks. The first sale of 2018 is in March, starting at 11am at the following venues:

·         Essex & North and East London: Monday March 19 at the Chelmsford City Racecourse, Chelmsford

·         Kent & South East London: Tuesday March 20 at the Clive Emson Conference Centre, Detling, Maidstone, Kent

·         Sussex & Surrey: Wednesday March 21 at the Hilton Brighton Metropole, Brighton

·         West Country: Thursday March 22 at the St Mellion International Resort, Saltash

·         Hampshire & Isle of Wight: Friday March 23 at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton

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