ByCharlie Jacoby, Charlie Jacoby
Andrew Scott Robertson posted record-breaking results in its June sale - but the firm has demerged its auction department, which will go back to being called Andrews & Robertson. The auction team will remain unchanged and the company will continue to operate from its offices in Chelsea and Camberwell.
ASR made £21.4 million from 73 lots in June, an 86 per cent success rate. The largest lot sold under the hammer was a substantial, four-floor, freehold semi-detached house in Kensington, which sold for £4.26 million to a private buyer.
Many lots exceeded their guide prices; 5 Geraldine Road, a four-bedroom, freehold terrace house close to Wandsworth Common, was guided at £950,000 and sold for £1.115 million. A five-floor, freehold terrace building arranged as a lock-up shop and basement with five self-contained flats, on Grove Vale, East Dulwich, sold for £1.1 million, £150,000 above its guide.
Robin Cripp, Andrews & Robertson auctioneer, says: "We are seeing strong demand from private as well as corporate buyers and increasing numbers of purchasers in the buy-to-let market seeking to invest pension funds and take advantage of the great yields available in the sector."
Auction House London also reported good results at its June auction, raising nearly £18 million from 72 lots. A five-bedroom bungalow accessible only by boat and a London flat that sold for double its guide price are two highlights. Success rate was 90 per cent.
The one-bedroom ground-floor flat in Plumstead Common Road started with a guide price of £75,000 and sold for almost double that at £148,500. In Langford, Essex, a five-bedroom bungalow in two acres that can be reached only by boat sold for £300,000, from a guide price of £225,000. Included in the sale of Beeleigh Willows were a dinghy and a punt.
Andrew Binstock, Auction House London auctioneer, says: "It was a busy and lively auction with every lot seeing strong bidding."
Auction House London's next sale is on July 22 and Andrews & Robertson's sale is on July 20.
Buyers at Allsop & Co's next commercial sale on July 6 will bid for a 17th-century Grade II listed building in Reigate, Surrey, formerly known as The Barons. Built around 1690 by Richard Devon, a London merchant, it is now let to the fashion company Jack Wills for 20 years at a current rent of £75,000 per annum and is being marketed with a guide price of £1.1 million plus. Allsop has 172 lots on offer across the UK, including 25 with guide prices above £1 million. They range from shops, banks and industrial estates to office buildings and a golf course in Northolt, together producing an income of more than £8.6 million a year.
Allsop is offering a five-storey building off St John's Wood High Street, with restaurant on the ground floor and basement and a five-bedroom maisonette above. It comes with planning permission for redevelopment and a guide of £1.75-£2 million.
The fourth Acuitus auction of 2015 will take place on July 9. It will have 60 lots including retail, office, industrial and leisure assets, producing current total rental income of more than £4.3 million. The sale will include two major lots offered with guide prices in excess of £5 million.
Mr Cripp adds: "With the economy continuing to recover, unemployment falling, mortgage approvals rising and plenty in the budget to help the property market, there are reasons for continued optimism for the remaining auctions of 2015 and looking ahead into 2016."