There’s still a market - over £28m raised at online auction

Allsop has staged its first principal residential auction entirely online, and has raised £28m.

Some 76 per cent of all lots offered were sold in the Allsop auction which had originally been set as a traditional sale with telephone bidders as well. 

“We chose not to use live auctioneers at this sale. The health and safety of our colleagues is our primary concern and it would have been impossible to make this form of hybrid sale work successfully within a short time frame without physically gathering our staff and partners” explains the firm’s Gary Murphy.

The bidder registration process required pre-payment of contract deposits and buyers’ fees. 

In all, over 780 unique bidders entered the registration process with more than 300 going in to place bids over the two days.

“As ever in times of crisis, buyers focussed on quality of location and security of income. London homes fared relatively well. Ground rents remained popular. Interestingly, development opportunities remained in demand. Pricing attractively will be absolutely critical to success over the coming months.”

Allsop says it’s confident that forthcoming sales online will continue to be able to service its clients and buyers.

“It was all the more remarkable when you consider that everyone involved in making this sale work so well was working from home. Our commercial auction team was also on hand to help field calls from buyers who may have needed help with the process” adds Murphy.

Allsop’s next residential sale will be held online on May 28.