TOUGHER AUCTION
DAYS - BUT STILL SUCCESSFUL
AND WITHIN FOUR
WEEKS OF MARKETING!
In our last tranche of July
auctions we sold 72 lots (including a handful currently under offer) within four
weeks of marketing – that’s not bad, not bad at all. Something many individual
and corporate estate agency branches would, we’re sure, love to be able to say
they have achieved during January to July 2008, let alone in a month.
We have, after months and months
of bucking the trend succumbed to the slowdown seen by so many estate agents
for some time. The global credit crunch, rising oil prices, the mortgage
drought and the general lack of finances affects most, if not all businesses,
so why should we, land and property auctioneer’s, be any different.
Clive Emson Auctioneers are still
selling a higher percentage than some auction houses including our main
competitor. We have sold 72 (including the handful under offer) in our July
auction and a total of 392 lots (including those sold subject to contract) this
year. This is something we believe is worth shouting about.
We do listen to the news and read
the papers, so we are only too aware of the doom and gloom being spread by the
media in general. The number of new mortgages being approved by the major
banks, according to the BBC fell another 23% in June to a record low and the
British Bankers Association said its Members approved just 21,118 new home
loans in June 2008 (down from 27,499 in May) and 67% lower than in June last
year. These are staggering statistics but it does show mortgages are still
available even if the LTV (Loan to Value) has dropped to a maximum of 90%.
In these ‘credit crunch’ times
many banks, building societies and other lending institutes are not exactly
rolling out the red carpet to welcome you through their doors but there is some
good news on the horizon, the price of crude oil is falling slightly and
recently some lenders have announced a drop in certain mortgage rates - after
all their business is to lend money, if they don’t, will they have a business?
But we are far from
complacent. If Vendors want to sell,
their Reserves are of paramount importance.
The Reserves should not exceed the highest Guide Price quoted. If the Guide Price is perceived by prospective
buyers as too high then there is only one outcome – it remains unsold.
However let’s focus on the
positive - where Guides are set realistically then deals (and we are actually
exchanging contracts) can and are being made.
In July alone 66 lots actually exchanged contracts, with a handful
currently under offer with contracts imminent, which included vacant houses,
cottages and flats for improvement, renovation and restoration to varying
degrees, several lots of garages, commercial properties both vacant and let,
building plots, conversion projects, former agricultural buildings and land,
freehold ground rents, a former children’s home, agricultural/grazing land,
tenanted properties and even a barn nestling on two acres.
Some of the highlights from the
July auction included:
Lot 3, a three-storey two-bedroom
terrace house in Mayfield Avenue,
Dover, which was Guided at £75-80,000 and requires improvement and
renovation. The Lot saw keen bidding as the gavel
fell at £90,500.
In Temple Ewell an attractive
end-terrace cottage of flint construction requiring total refurbishment,
updating and modernisation, sold above its £80-85,00 pre-auction Guide Price, selling
at £88,000, while in Gillingham, Park Lodge, offered on behalf Medway Council,
a detached office building with conversion potential, sold at £140,000 against
its £140-150,000 Guide Price.
Lot 41, described as an
outstanding residential and commercial development package, in Silverdale Lane,
Tunbridge Wells, although Guided at £380-390,000 sold in the room for £350,000
and a former Children’s Home in Hadlow
Road, Sidcup, sold at £550,000.
In Birchington, two garages and a
small area of land were offered with a pre-auction Guide Price of £10-12,000
and after fast and furious bidding sold for £22,500. In Chatham,
a compound of 36 garages with a pre-auction Guide of £140-145,000 sold for
£190,000 and in Folkestone a block of eight garages with Planning Permission
for re-development with eight garages and two flats, had a pre-auction Guide of
£125-135,000 and sold at £171,000.
Also, in Folkestone, Lot 42 (22
Tontine Street), which is a mid-terrace building currently arranged as a
cafe/social club on the ground floor, plus basement, and the upper parts
comprising two flats (sold on Long Leases) and a third floor flat, sold at
£140,000 against an initial pre-auction Guide Price of £45,000 plus.
While in Twydall a substantial
unbroken parade of freehold commercial and residential ground rents, currently
let at £590 per annum, and offered on behalf of the Medway Council, with a
pre-auction Guide Price of £15-25,000, soared through the roof to sell at
£148,000.
Land was also in particular
demand - an eight acre triangular shaped site offered on behalf of the Kent
County Council at Birling Road, West Malling had a pre-auction Guide of
£30-35,000 but sold for £80,000 and a three-acre site in Hill Green Road,
Stockbury, sold at £67,000 against its pre-auction Guide of £45-50,000.
The above, which are some of the
auction’s highlights do demonstrate that with the right Guide and, obviously,
the right Reserve, will create competitive bidding in the auction room with the
property or land finding its true level naturally and, of course, all within
four weeks of marketing.
Our next tranche of auctions
will be held on Friday 19th September for Kent and South East London lots,
Monday 22nd September for Sussex
and Surrey lots and Tuesday 23rd September for Hampshire, Wiltshire and Isle of Wight Lots. Entries are now being invited for
these sales and for confidential impartial advice please don’t hesitate to
contact the Auctioneer’s on 0845 8500333.