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Auction roundup: Weekly summer sales and a huge save for buyers

As lockdown continues – although steadily easing as we adapt to a new normal – online auctions continue to thrive. Here at Property Investor Today, we provide a brief rundown of the latest happenings in the auction world.

Landwood Property Auctions to run weekly summer sales

Landwood Property Auctions has announced it will continue to stage weekly sales throughout August to meet surging demand for development opportunities.

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While the usual summer months traditionally see most auction houses scale back or halt operations entirely, Landwood is going against the tide, maintaining its timetable of online-only sales every week.

This follows the success of recent auctions, which have seen strong demand for plots, such as one in Stalybridge, Cheshire. The lot sold went for well above its £5,000 guide price, selling for £95,000 after 298 bids.

Another plot of land in Stroud, Gloucestershire received 150 bids and eventually went for £325,000 – 3.5 times over its guide price.

Kate Lay, director of Landwood Property Auctions, says: “In times of economic uncertainty like these, you often see increased demand for land as investors see it as a safe place for their money. And we’ve certainly been witnessing plots with residential development opportunities performing particularly strongly recently.”

“That’s why, while others hang up their gavels over the summer, we’re continuing to hold our auctions on a weekly basis throughout August and into the rest of the year.”

A highlight from Landwood’s July 29 sale includes two care homes in Cumbria that were sold on behalf of Cumbria County Council for £406,000 and £244,000 against guide prices of £100,000 and £125,000 respectively. There was strong interest in the lead up to the auction from residential developers and those in the care sector.

Another high point of the sale was a commercial unit in High Wycombe, Bucks that went for 25% over the £1 million guide price after failing to sell privately.

Landwood’s tech-driven approach forgoes a physical auctioneer, allowing more bids to be taken in a shorter space of time, maximising potential returns for sellers and giving buyers more opportunities to secure a property. This approach has helped them to sell £11 million of property during lockdown.

You can view the lots for its upcoming auctions here.

Buyers save £74k and sellers pocket £20.7m in just one month

With seven lockdown auctions now under its belt, SDL Auctions has helped its buyers save more than £74,000 in stamp duty tax.

In July alone the auctioneer raised £20.7 million in sales and sold 170 properties for its vendors through its daily single-lot online auctions and monthly national property auction.

Andrew Parker, auctioneer and managing director at SDL Auctions, says these live-streamed auctions were ‘a fitting finale’ to the month, taking the company to more than £75 million raised in lockdown so far.

He comments: “Buyer interest remained high with hundreds of buyers registered to place their bid and thousands more watching our live video feed on our website. What’s also particularly pleasing is to see that we’ve helped save our buyers £74,930 in tax for our buyers thanks to the Chancellor’s stamp duty holiday.”

The latest national property auction was held at SDL Auctions’ head office auction studio, with auctioneers Andrew Parker and Rory Daly sharing the rostrum along with a socially distanced team handling telephone bids.

The auction kicked off with lot 1 – a three-bedroom semi-detached house at 43 New Street in Blaby, Leicester, requiring extensive renovation and scope for extension – selling for £177,500 from a guide price of £135,000-plus. The home was offered in partnership with Nest Estate Agents and had the potential to make “a wonderful family home”.

Several other lots across the East Midlands saw some competitive bidding including two traditional two-bedroom semi-detached houses sold on behalf of Derby City Council. At £123,000, the buyer of 5 Kendon Avenue in Sunnyhill, Derby secured the property which is in need of modernisation and has potential for extension.

Auction roundup: Weekly summer sales and a huge save for buyers

In Nottinghamshire, the three-bedroom semi-detached house at 40 Garden Avenue in Shirebrook sold for more than double its guide price of £36,000-plus. Dozens of bidders saw the potential in the vacant property, which requires a comprehensive scheme of improvement. The lot eventually sold for £74,500.

Buyers who desired a place by the sea were attracted to 7 Stanley Place in Plymouth, which sold for £90,000 against a guide price of £65,000-plus. The two-bedroom terraced house is estimated to achieve £650 per calendar month once renovated.

The sales continued to pour in in the West Midlands, with a large three-bedroom terraced house at 65 Birchwood Crescent in Birmingham seeing some spirited bidding and eventually selling for £239,000 from a guide price of £180,000-plus.

Further north, 110 Haslingden Road in Blackburn, Lancashire was a particular hit with 37 bidders competing for the purchase. The traditional two-bedroom terraced house is in need of refurbishment and was sold with vacant possession. It had a guide price of £27,000-plus and, after a lengthy round of bidding, sold for £59,000.

Commercial properties were also popular sellers, with a pair of lots in Dudley going way above seller expectations.

A vacant former office at 3 Birmingham Street in Dudley, which is suitable for a number of uses, sold for £260,000 against a guide price of £135,000-plus, while the warehouse to the north west side of St Joseph Street, which has a tenant paying £625 per calendar month, had a guide price of £150,000-plus and eventually sold for £225,000.

Several unique auction lots attracted interest, too. 39-41 Caroline Street in Blackpool gained significant interest prior to the auction with the vacant two-storey former storage unit seeing the gavel fall on a sale for £12,000 against a guide of just £1-plus.

Auction roundup: Weekly summer sales and a huge save for buyers

Another popular lot was the former public toilets in Brierfield, Lancashire. Being offered at the bidders’ convenience and with no chain, the commercial property with scope for conversion sold for £18,000.

Parker adds: “We’re continuing to experience high volumes of interest from both buyers and sellers and I’m proud not only to continue operating our business during lockdown, but to grow the number of sales month-on-month and help address our customers’ needs throughout this uncertain time.”

“Our lives are slowly starting to return to normality and restrictions continue to ease, however many of us are still unsure about what the future holds and so to provide a certainty of sale and secure that much-needed financial injection is a real lifeline for many.”

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