Virtual auctions set to remain despite restrictions being relaxed

Property auctioneer Auction House has recorded its best first half results in its 14-year history, and says it’s going to continue its mix of virtual and ‘real’ events.

Between January and June the group raised over £275.5m, almost £60m better than its last best-ever success in 2016.

Managing director Jeremy Prior says: “People have already started to learn to live with Covid and are taking all necessary precautions while getting on with their daily lives. That includes the buying and selling of property. What’s more, they have faith in bricks and mortar as a reliable investment, and faith in the auction process to deliver.”

June alone saw the sale of 279 properties from 338 offered – a success rate of 82.5 per cent.

Prior adds: “We expect a period of adjustment as the country adapts to the final lifting of the lockdown. However, we are planning to continue with our livestream and online sales indefinitely, which have proved to be such a success over the past 15 months.

“With the final end of the stamp duty holiday in September, we may see a slight cooling in demand, which may have an impact on the number of would-be purchasers for private treaty sales.

“But we’re not expecting the auction sales process to soften, and fully expect values to keep rising for the next six months.

“Indeed, for as long as interest rates remain low, we see no reason why both prices and the volume of sales should not continue to rise in the future.”