High value lots dominate Allsop’s first auction of 2018

Allsop’s first residential auction of 2018 raised over £75 million, with the sale success of high value lots helping to boost the final total.

Held at The InterContinental Park Lane Hotel in Mayfair on Thursday February 15 2018, the auction consisted of a 300-lot catalogue with a wide range of locations and property types on offer. A number of higher value assets went under the hammer, with 18 lots eventually sold for figures at or over £1 million.

Two substantial adjacent office buildings on the same estate received the highest hammer prices on the day. Situated in Rickmansworth, the two lots – both of which had permitted developments rights for conversion into flats – sold for £4.4 million and £8 million to the same buyer. The latter sale set a new record for the largest sum achieved for a single lot at a residential auction.

“Sellers are increasingly using our auction rooms to achieve certainty in the sale of multi-million-pound assets and February’s auction has taken this strategy to a new level,” Gary Murphy, partner and auctioneer at Allsop, said.  

“The 18 £1m+ lots contributed more than half of the total receipt for the day at almost £42m, with an average sale price of £2.3m.”

He added: “What is particularly satisfying is the overall depth of demand. As always, we had worked hard to ensure that our clients adopted realistic pricing positions. The competition that this was able to generate produced very healthy results.”

At the sale, Allsop also took the opportunity to carry out a detailed survey of buyer sentiment, which found that 74% of those surveyed were buying to hold “long term” while 30% said that they had never bought at auction before.

Surprisingly, little concern was expressed about the impact of Brexit or future market falls, while the survey also found that buyers’ of all ages and nationalities were present at the auction with a ‘strong sense of excitement and enjoyment’ of the live auction process.

The full results of the auction can be viewed here. Allsop’s next residential sale will be held on Wednesday 28 March 2018 at the Intercontinental, Park Lane, London W1. Entries are now invited and will be accepted up until Friday 2 March 2018.