Auction roundup – and this is no April Fools’…

Pinch, punch, it’s the first of the month! While it is indeed April Fools’ day, these record sales at auction are no joke.

Both Clive Emson and Auction House London report the highest-ever results in their respective auctions, and Strettons launches its auction catalogue for the month. Meanwhile, Network Auctions reports strong interest in leasehold properties.

Clive Emson achieves record sale for Essex property

Property auctioneer Clive Emson has set a new record with the highest price achieved outside of London in an online auction.

The commercial lot in Grays, Essex, sold for £5.4 million with Clive Emson Auctioneers in the firm’s March sales across southern England and Wales.

James Emson, managing director, comments: “We saw phenomenal bidding for the site, and by the time the last bid had been placed we had received a total of 113 bids from six different bidders.”

“One of the big attractions is the access road which runs through the site, with the final bid of £5,402,000 made by a private property investment company.”

He adds: “It is a new auction record that has been set with the highest price achieved for a property outside of London in an online auction.”

The auctioneer disposed of the Kerneos site in London Road, Purfleet, Grays, Essex, which is currently let at £40,000 per annum, on behalf of Thurrock Council (lot 22).

Elsewhere, a derelict colliery building at Llwynypia Road, Tonypandy, Mid Glamorgan, Wales, sold prior to auction, having a £55,000-plus estimate (lot 28).

A character property in an ‘idyllic’ location – April Cottage at Porthallow, Helston, on the southern coastline of Cornwall – went for £336,100, which was £196,100 above estimate (lot 5).

Land with ‘stunning views’ over the Atlantic and Portreath village, on the northern Cornish coastline, fetched £56,000, which was £11,000 above the lower end of the guide price (lot 31).

Following a disposal instruction from trustees, a Methodist church at Woodacott, Holsworthy, east of Bude in Devon, sold for £100,750, which was £80,750 above estimate following 75 bids (lot 72).

Let at £100,488.78 per annum, a 34,444 sq ft building comprising offices, workshops and studio spaces at VIP House in St Leonards, East Sussex, was bought for £750,000 (lot 114).

Meanwhile, a five-bedroom HMO on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, let at £25,956 per annum, sold for £189,000, giving a gross rental yield of 13.73% (lot 93).

A bank in Warminster, Wiltshire, sold for £441,000. The Grade II-listed Victorian building is let to Lloyds Bank at £28,000 per annum (lot 17), equivalent to a gross yield of 6.35%.

Clive Emson Auctioneers, which covers southern England, from Essex to Cornwall, and Wales, had 132 lots listed for the March auction, with £26 million sold at an average sales rate of just under 80%.

The firm’s third of eight auctions this year ends on May 5, with lot entries closing on April 11 and the catalogue online from April 15.

Sellers cash in at record sales with Auction House London

Almost 4,000 bidders registered for Auction House London’s live stream in March, which saw 91% of lots sold – raising more than £28 million.

Auctioneer and Director of Auction House London, Andrew Binstock, says the appetite for auction stock is still very much present.

“How long that continues I've no idea but bidder numbers remain very high with 3,938 approved across our live stream auction, so the signs for 2022 are good for the time being,” he comments.

“We saw particularly fierce bidding wars on parcels of land. And, as always, we saw huge demand for unmodernised freehold houses where there is scope to add value.”

In Disraeli Road, Forest Gate, East London, an eight-bedroom mid-terrace Victorian house needing modernisation sold for £736,000 – well above the reserve price.

It was a similar story for a more modern property in Bear Road, Feltham, Middlesex where the guide was listed at £200,000 before the four-bedroom terrace, which needed updating, sold for £352,000. 

Speaking on the highlights, Binstock adds: “One interesting sale was a three-bedroom stone house needing modernisation in Oakworth Road, Keighley in West Yorkshire. It was offered for sale in February at auction with a guide price of £130,000.”

“It failed to attract any interest and was relisted with a lower guide price of £110,000 this month, and therefore a lower reserve on what the seller was prepared to accept. But this time around the lot attracted a huge number of bidders and the property sold for £158,000 – much higher than the reserve price when it was originally up for auction last month!”

According to Binstock, the results show that when a seller is prepared to accept a lower reserve price, that is often when the highest prices are achieved.

“It pays to be bold, and obviously important to use a reputable auction company with an auctioneer conducting the sale live such as with Auction House London,” he concludes.

Auction House London is now taking entries for its next live-stream sale on Wednesday April 20 2022.

Strettons launches auction catalogue for April

Last week, Strettons published the catalogue for its upcoming national property auction on April 7.

The sale features 51 properties from across the UK, with prices ranging from £100 for a strip of road in Chigwell to £1.5 million for a large freehold residential investment comprising 7 flats in Haringey, currently producing £96,060 per annum.

Other notable properties include a freehold vacant terraced period house for repair with extension and development potential guided at £700,000 plus, and a freehold mixed-use retail, restaurant and residential investment in Kilburn which has a guide price of £1 million-plus.

Set to attract attention is Lot 3, 25 Hall Gardens Chingford. This two bedroom leasehold ground floor flat for repair and improvement has its own access and is within a short walking distance of the popular Chingford Mount. The property has a guide price of just £45,000-£50,000.

The sale features a range of sites with development potential, from full sites to properties with the potential for significant expansion. In Chingford, a freehold former garage site with planning permission for two four-bedroom detached houses has a guide price of £925,000 plus and in Worksop, Nottinghamshire the freehold site of a former pub has a guide price of £250,000 plus.

In Redditch, Worcestershire, a freehold vacant site with planning permission for 27 apartments has a guide price of £900,000 plus.

As with previous Strettons sales, a series of land development sites sold on behalf of JCDecaux will also go under the hammer. In Southgate, a 7,258 sq ft site at the junction of Balaams Lane and the High Street has a guide price of £500,000 and sites in Luton and Birmingham are guided at £90,000 to £210,000 respectively.

Commenting on the sale, Strettons director and auctioneer Andrew Brown adds: “I am pleased with the catalogue and think we have properties that will appeal to a range of investors.”

“Many of the properties are already generating healthy yields or have the potential for investors to add significant value to them so I am looking forward to seeing how they perform on the day.”

The auction will take place at 12 noon on Thursday April 7 and will be live-streamed with remote bidding only. To view the lots, click here.

‘Difficult’ leasehold properties are a hit in the auction room

Two challenging leasehold properties broke all expectations and sold well beyond guides and expectations at Network Auctions’ March sale.

The auction, which raised £4.8 million and a success rate of 75%, saw a variety of lots go under the hammer, including a car park in Aylesbury which sold for £275,000 (upper guide).

But the standout lots were two leasehold properties located over 140 miles apart.

Pembridge Close, Hereford is a two-bedroom ground floor maisonette with a private garden. Described as needing ‘cosmetic refurbishment’ and a lease length of approximately 38 years remaining, saw excited bidders placing 43 bids taking the guide price of £55,000-£60,000 to a hammer price of £91,000. This was despite the property having a short lease which would cost approximately £35,000 to extend.

Toby Limbrick, auctioneer, comments: “We were surprised at the mad bidding on this lot and the price achieved. We know it does have a good rental at £700 per month, but expected more people to factor in the cost of a lease extension and the refurbishment works.”

The second surprise of the auction was Flats 1-5, Denzil Avenue, Southampton, a leasehold property for 998 years from 1882. The three-storey semi-detached building arranged as 2 x 2 bedroom and 3 x studio flats were listed as ‘will benefit from refurbishment’.

The presence of Japanese Knotweed with a programme of eradication in place was not enough to deter multiple bidders who placed 83 bids on the property taking the guide price of £300,000-325,000 to a whopping £499,000.

Limbrick adds: “I think what attracted bidders to this lot was the potential to add value and create income. The property is situated in an ideal location for landlords offering student accommodation and is close to Royal South Hants Hospital. We estimate the current total annual rental when occupied to be £33,000 per annum.”