November Property Auction Market Update

Market Continues To Be Buoyant

September was something of a record month for residential property auctions in the UK. So did the market in October tail off? Here we will look at current trends in sales volumes, percentages sold, amounts raised and other interesting trends in the residential auctions market last month.

Number of lots offered

The answer to whether the auctions market was slower in October than the busy, busy September was …. yes it was. But not by much. The volume of lots offered was about 20% down compared to last month at just over 4,000 residential lots. But, significantly,  October’s lot numbers were higher than any other month this year (save September) and a very substantial two thirds higher than in the same month in 2023.

The majority of auction houses held a sale. Allsop held a two day sale and raised £61.3m from selling 262 lots with a sales rate of 94%. Their highest value lot sold consisted of a building comprising 28 flats which sold for £3.7m.

Percentages sold

The percentage of lots sold was very slightly less than last month but was still pretty strong. Around 70% of all properties offered at residential auction sales found a buyer.

There was quite a spread in the success rates of individual sales, however. While some sales managed to get 90%+ of their lots away (and 100% in a few cases) others only just managed to sell half their catalogue. This month live and live/streamed sales generally performed much better than online sales.

Amount raised

The amount raised at auctions in October was well down on September’s record amount. But it was still a very impressive amount with just over £600m raised in total from all sales. Notably it was over double the amount raised in October 2023 and 40% above the monthly average over the last 12 months.

Average amount per sale

The average price of a house sold at auction in the UK in October 2024 dipped slightly compared to last month at around £151,000. This is around half the average UK property price according to UK HPI figures.

Comment

Richard Adamson, residential managing partner and auctioneer at Allsop, says: “Our two-day October auction, which came only three weeks after our record-breaking September sale which raised over £90 million, proved to be another hugely successful event. Any concerns running up to next week’s much-anticipated Autumn Budget have been alleviated with over 2,500 buyers registering to bid at the auction. There still seems to be plenty of appetite from investors, especially for well-priced income-producing assets and value-add opportunities. We have now released a new catalogue which features 150 high-quality lots and anticipate a busy couple of weeks in the lead-up to the sale.”

Summary

In summary, it was another pretty good month for the residential auctions in the UK.

Importantly, not only were there lots of sellers but there were lots of buyers too. Concerns over what might happen in the Budget at the end of October have loomed large over the wider property market in recent months. But although that might have encouraged more sellers into the market than usual it didn’t seem to deter buyers.

Now that the Budget is out of the way – and the rumoured tax rises didn’t affect the property market as much as many feared – there are a couple of issues which are likely to impact the market over the next few months. Firstly, the 2% additional property Stamp Duty increase for investors which was announced in the Budget might make landlords and investors rethink their strategy. While it might not deter them from buying it might prompt them to reconsider their maximum bids.

Secondly, the decision on the interest rate due from the Bank of England later this week (as well as another one in December) will also affect buyers and investors. Chances are that, sooner or later, buying or investing in property via mortgage finance is going to get cheaper.

Looking forward, November and December are usual lively months for residential auctions before the market slows down for the winter. So the returns for the next couple of months should give a very clear indicator of where the auctions market and the wider property market is heading.

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