May Property Auction Market Update

Market Slows Slightly

What happened at the residential property auctions in April 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

After several months in which the numbers of properties offered at auction have been strong (a traditionally slow January excepted) the number of lots declined slightly this month. Around 2,500 properties were offered at the auctions we track – around 10% less than each of the previous two months.

Sales volume was still pretty much in line with the monthly average over the last year – and well up on April 2023 – suggesting the market is still on track.

Who held sales? Which were biggest?

The biggest single auction house by far was Savills who raised a sizable £125m (almost a third of the total) from offering 448 lots. The Auction House Network offered 679 lots overall and raised £82.5m. Allsop raised £42.9m from offering 163 lots.

As an aside, this month there were a lot more live/live streamed sales events than online ones, and more money was raised physically in the room, although each had a similar volume of lots.

Percentages sold

The average sales rate at the auctions we tracked this month was 74.5%. This was an increase over the last few months and one of the strongest sales rates of the last 12 months. The biggest three auction houses all enjoyed sales rates over 80%.

Amount raised

The amount raised at the sales we track was £387m approximately. Again, a slight fall compared to the last couple of months. Given the smaller number of lots this was perhaps not to be unexpected. However, interestingly, it was still approximately 10% ahead of the monthly average over the last year.

Average amount per sale

The average sales price of an auction property in the UK in April 2024 was around £151,000. This was 10% up on March and the highest average lot value since last autumn.

Comment

Allsop’s report on their April auction says that ‘value-add and income-producing lots drew fierce bidding’. Richard Adamson, managing partner and residential auctioneer there suggests confidence in the market is good. He said: “We are delighted with the success of our fourth residential auction in 2024. The success rate of 90% is significantly higher than the industry average of 73%, which is a testament to the relationships, knowledge, experience and expertise of the team.

“We are continuing to see signs of growing confidence in the market with more buyers returning in response to a less turbulent economic backdrop in comparison to 2023. There is clearly strong demand for income-producing investments across the country and value-add opportunities, although pricing is key. Our next auction on 9th May is just a few weeks away, and we look forward to continuing to build on our momentum.”

Summary

Key takeaways this month are that both the number of lots offered and amount raised tailed off. April was the quietest month of the last quarter based on these figures, although not by much. What was also very notable, however, was the strong sales rate of 74.5% overall.

In simple terms, if you want to sell your property at auction right now there is a pretty good chance you will find a buyer and the sale will go through in a month or so. Contrast that with the wider sales market where the chances of finding a buyer (or even buying a property) quickly right now don’t seem to be that high.

It’s worth remembering that things are still pretty uncertain in the property market overall right now. Issues like the direction of prices, the interest rate and future government policy are probably still weighing heavily on buyers’, investors’ and sellers’ minds. In those circumstances it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that the auction market is doing what it is intended to do pretty well at the moment: Sellers who want to sell are selling, and buyers who want to buy at market price are finding opportunities.

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