Property auction raises more than £29m after switching online

Amid all the uncertainty facing the world, some people are in the middle of buying property, and while some home hunters are facing the prospect of having to pull out of their deal, others are ploughing on but feel unclear whether it is the right call.

But one group of buyers remain confident: property investors. 

While the Covid-19 pandemic has had a detrimental impact on the property sector, auction houses continue to remain positive, with investors turning to remote bidding in order to buy and sell property.

Allsop held its latest auction remotely, adding to the list of auction houses moving to online auctions due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The national auctioneer streamed its sale online, with prospective bidders able to bid by phone or by proxy.

The decision to move to online bidding exclusively was taken in anticipation of the UK lockdown imposed on 23rd March as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. The firm had originally planned a sale that would accommodate telephone bidders with an auctioneer streamed live from Allsop’s London headquarters.  

Gary Murphy, Auctioneer at Allsop, said: “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.”

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, with the auction raising more than £29m with 76% of all lots offered sold.

Murphy added: “It was a great relief to see that there is still a competitive market for residential property. 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.”

Whilst looking forward to holding multi-channel ballroom auctions when it’s safe to do so, Allsop is confident that its forthcoming sales online will continue to be able to service its clients and buyers.

Murphy continued: “This was a massive effort by Allsop. It was all the more remarkable when you consider that everyone involved in making this sale work so well was working from home.”

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

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