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.