Auction House nets sales of £42.7m in six months

Auction House – a network of local auction houses run with local estate agents who take out licences – has published its results for the first six months of 2010, announcing total sales of over £42.7m.

The fast-growing property auctioneer held 41 auctions in 17 locations around the UK between January and June, selling a total of 451 lots at a success rate of 69%.
 
Auction House founding director Roger Lake said: “These are impressive results for the first half of the year – especially when you consider the stalling effect that the General Election had. Despite this, our network of regional auction rooms has continued to power ahead, with a rate of success well above that of other regional auctioneers.”
 
Figures for June alone show 124 lots selling at 11 auctions around the country, raising £11.6m.
  
Lake said: “Concerns about Capital Gains Tax before the Emergency Budget meant that many of our clients preferred to sit on their hands and wait until the situation became clearer. In the end, the lower-than-feared rise in CGT combined with the fact that the hike came into effect immediately, meant that the market was not suddenly flooded with properties, which would have had a downward pressure on prices.”

Auction House has a ‘Best Price, Certain Sale’ offering for repossessions which Lake said meant there are strong future prospects for the business.

Lake explained: “This means that such properties can be listed for private treaty sale through any one of our 150 estate agency offices, and if still remaining unsold after ten weeks, can also be offered simultaneously at one of 20 auction rooms around the country – which will position us perfectly for the expected surge in repossessed and distressed stock coming to market in the autumn.”