Agents' year-end appointments and sales news

Here's a round up of appointments and sales news just announced:

Allsop, the UK and Ireland's largest auction house, has sold £421m of residential stock this year compared to £336m in 2013 - representing a hefty 25 per cent growth. 2014 has been an extraordinary year for us. Despite the recent hikes in stamp duty, demand for higher value lots remained steady says auctioneer Gary Murphy.

Andrews: Chris Chapman who ran the financial services business for 17 years and has worked in the company as a whole for 33 years, has now taken charge of the entire estate agency branch network, of its land and new homes business, and of the company's Fine & Country operations in Bath, Bristol, Cheltenham and Oxfordshire.

Shires Residential and Marshall Buck and Casson, two of west Suffolk's largest independent agents, are merging. Marshall Buck and Casson was launched in 1992 by Michael Buck and Laurie Marshall, with John Casson joining the company shortly after.Shires Residential was launched in Mildenhall in 1987 by David Kemble-Taylor, Bob Gallon and Mike Ellis and now has offices there, in Bury St Edmunds and in Brandon.