June Property Auction Market Update

Auction Numbers Surge Again

May proved to be a very significant month in politics. But what happened at the residential property auctions in May 2024? In this monthly update we will take a closer look at current trends in sales volumes, percentages sold, amounts raised and other interesting trends in the residential auctions market.

Number of lots offered

Spring is normally a busy month for the auctions anyway but May came close to being a record breaker. The number of lots offered at residential auctions absolutely surged this month. It was the busiest month in the auction rooms since last September. Almost 3,800 properties were offered at the auctions we track.

Significantly, the number of lots was a full 50% higher than the average number of lots offered per month over the last year.

Who held sales? Which were biggest?

Savills again had a busy month offering 474 lots at two auctions each over two days and raising almost £100m in the process. The Auction House network offered 810 lots again raising just short of £100m – just under half of these were at their London sale. Barnard Marcus offered 255 lots and raised £28m. McHugh & Co. offered 210 lots also raising around £28m. Allsop raised just short of £47m from 178 lots.

Percentages sold

Two sales sold only 20% and 30% of their lots respectively – a low sales rate that is rarely seen in residential auctions. Then again a few (mainly smaller) sales sold 100% of their lots.

Overall the average sales rate at the auctions we tracked this month was 72.5%. This was a marginal fall compared to April but in line with the strong sales rate that has been usual over the last few months.

Amount raised

As might be expected by the large numbers of lots offered and strong sales rate the amount raised at the residential sales we track almost (but not quite) reached record levels. With around £534m raised in total it was the second highest amount over the last year, falling just slightly behind September 2023’s total.

Average amount per sale

The average sales price of an auction property in the UK in May 2024 was around £141,000. Although a slight fall (approximately 7%) on last month’s average auction house price it was broadly in line with the average over the last few months.

In the wider national sales market house prices are, with a few exceptions, broadly static at the moment. Auction prices seem to be reflecting that trend, if at a lower average level.

Summary

May proved to be a very busy month for residential property auctions. It was the second busiest month over the last year, and came very close to setting new records for recent times.

A reasonable summary would be that sellers are keen to sell. A lot of lots are being offered. And it seems that buyers are just as keen to buy. Sales rates and sales prices remain very positive.

The big issue over the next few months will of course be the UK general election on 4 July.

Most likely, the election announcement on 22 May didn’t make much difference to the May results overall. Most lots for this month will have been entered by then …. and in fact most sales had already been held.

The Savills’ auctions might offer an interesting (although not particularly scientific) insight here: Savills held a sale in the first week of May, well before the election announcement, and another a week after the announcement. Both events uncannily offered a similar number of lots (240 -v- 230), both raised a similar amount (around £48m) and both had similar success rates (76% -v- 78%). So it seemed to be very much business as usual after the election was announced. Buyers weren’t any less willing to put their money into property.

The upcoming election means that the next three months (at least) are going to be very interesting months in the auctions market. The fact that the interest rate is now unlikely to start falling until late summer or early autumn is also relevant.

Will both sellers and buyers wait and see, to see who wins the election and what difference it might make to the property market? Or will they press ahead with buying and selling in their numbers anyway? Only time will tell!

It is worth remembering that the summer months (and August in particular) are generally quieter times for the auctions anyway.

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