Agents benefit from bumper Q2 auction sales

Agents pocketed record amounts of fees from auction with iampropety during the second quarter, research suggests.

It comes as iamproperty’s Online Auction Index for the second quarter showed capital values raised reached its highest ever level at more than £471m, supported by sales of 2,714 properties, a rise of 15% annually.

This led to iamproperty’s partner agents receiving more than £10m in fees in a single quarter, a record 21% increase year-on-year.  

Using TwentyCi exchange data, iamproperty also suggests its auction sales made up 1.3% of total UK residential property transactions between April and June, up 1% annually.

Jamie Cooke, co-founder of iamproperty, said: “Seeing agents maximise opportunities to offer vendors auction as a fast, secure and more transparent method of sale has delivered more revenue into branches than we’ve ever known in a single quarter. 

“The auction market is flying. Sales are up and volume of bids are up, with the highest level of activity to date – all despite the uncertainty seen in the market impacted by interest rates and the election.  

“Moving into the peak summer market and autumn, which is typically a really positive window for auction, I’m optimistic about what could be a strong second half of the year.” 

He predicted that an interest rate cut in the coming months could help boost the market, adding: “I expect we’ll see a more solid consistent market for the foreseeable, now that we have avoided the General Election being held over the traditionally busy sales period of September and October. 

"This should allow our partner agents to support their clients to move forward with confidence, with added reassurance that they are transacting within a more stable marketplace.”