July was a fruitful month for online auction sales at iamsold, with the auctioneer raising over £64 million in capital value.

iamsold provides services to over 2,500 estate agency branches across the UK and sold 445 properties via the Modern Method of Auction (MMoA) last month – up 33% on the previous year.

The volume of viewings was also up by 6%, while the number of bids increased by 72% compared to the same period last year as activity in the post-lockdown market has surged.

This rise comes as there is a sudden need to sell for many, due to lifestyle changes as a direct impact of the coronavirus pandemic, while the introduction of the stamp duty holiday is already boosting the market four weeks after launching.

The types of buyers purchasing auction properties remained varied, with 39% purchasing for their own occupancy.

The highest sale price achieved in the month was £1.6 million for a six-bedroom cottage in East Wellow Romsey, which eventually sold after fierce bidding.

Jamie Cooke, managing director at iamsold, comments: “We’ve never seen activity in the market spike as quickly as this, and our team has responded incredibly to support our network of partner agents.”

He says coming out of lockdown, agents are seeing a significant rise in non-discretionary sellers, which is accountable for a large proportion of the activity being seen at the moment.

Cooke adds: “The market is also experiencing two seasons in one, with vendors who felt uncertain about moving in spring taking action now. Most of these vendors are needing quick sales more than ever, and as MMoA is centred around what’s best for the circumstances of the seller, it’s making this possible.”

He says sellers are taking advantage of the stamp duty holiday and movers want to be settled in a new property in time for Christmas are also boosting the market.

What’s more, as the average completion time of a traditional private treaty sale has dropped to around 19 weeks, Cooke says auction is helping agents provide a solution to meet these sales deadlines, and at the same time improve their cash flow with seven-day payments after sold subject to contract (SSTC) available.

“The industry isn’t out of the woods, but we expect heading into the autumn, which is traditionally a strong period for us at iamsold, that the stamp duty holiday will help to maintain the market as the pent-up demand at the moment begins to steady,” Cooke concludes.