February Property Auction Market Update

New year, but nothing much changes at property auctions in January…

Introduction

January is traditionally a slow month at the property auctions. Many auction houses decide not to schedule a sale this month. No doubt the festive break slows down the practical processing of new lots. It also perhaps harks back to the days when there were worries that poor weather could keep buyers away from the in-person ballroom sales.

That said, the auction market never stops completely. So let’s look at what happened at the residential property auctions in January 2023.

Lots and amounts raised low

There are no prizes for guessing that the number of lots offered in January was considerably less than all of the busier autumn months. With 627 lots offered at the sales we track this was only around a fifth of the lots offered in December.

Lower lots offered meant a much lower amount raised too: The £43 million raised from all sales was less than the £49.5 million raised by a single sale held by Allsop in December.

Rather than any reflection on the health of the market both these figures very much reflect normal seasonal trends.

Barney Estates were the single biggest auction house in the live arena this month for listings with 130 lots offered raising £2.2m. Although Butters John Bee raised the largest single amount at £3.5m from 45 lots. In the online arena, the Auction House network topped the rankings for both listings and receipts with 90 lots raising £6.46m.

Sales rates hold up well

Neither sellers nor auctioneers need necessarily have worried that the low level of lots on offer might affect their chances of selling.

In January, sales rates were a few percentage points higher than all of the previous busier months at 74.4% across all types of sales. While online sales rates were comparable to recent months live sales performed particularly well. They enjoyed an overall 84% sales rate – though perhaps skewed by the small number of sales. (Connect UK Auctions achieved a 100% success – though admittedly with only 9 lots.)

Summary

It is always difficult to draw that many conclusions from January’s property auctions. January is often on a par with the summer holidays as one of the slower periods in the market. January 2023 proved to be no exception and volumes and values raised were well down. Yet those sales that were held appeared to perform satisfactorily, and perhaps marginally better than average. It suggests that while there are fewer lots and maybe fewer buyers at this time of the year there are certainly willing buyers out there.

Looking ahead, while February is not necessarily the busiest month for property auctions either the market does tend to warm up. A majority of auction houses tend to have a sale, with lots of activity in the first half of the month in particular. It will be interesting to see if our March update reveals any possible new trends for the year ahead.

Check out our monthly updated statistics below, courtesy of the Essential Information Group (click on the key colours to highlight / dehighlight).