Allsop achieves 90% success rate

  Allsop’s first residential auction of 2010 closed with a 90% success rate and a total of £42m after private buyers chased value-for-money lots.   A total of 316 out of 355 lots sold at the Cumberland hotel, W1, on 10 and 17 February.   Despite the good success rate, revenues were down by £10m on December’s auction, when an 81% success rate yielded a total of £52m.   Auctioneer Gary Murphy said: “A 90% success rate is a very encouraging outcome given the general state of the market and fears of a double-dip occurring.   “But it is still a selective market and not everything is attracting strong bidding so we had to work hard on some lots. It is still London-centric, even Central London-centric.”   The average lot price was £118,000. Just three properties were offered with £1m-plus price-tags and two sold. Distressed stock made up 40% of the volume.   An impulse-buy by a tourist ended a bidding war on a maisonette in Cadogan Place, SW1, offered by Mountview.    Murphy said: “It was a long-leased property guided at £2m, which sparked competitive bidding. The increments were going up by £100,000 and within seconds we hit £2.9m. I was going to bring the gavel down when the buyer walked into the room and put his hand up at £3m and bought it.   “It turned out he was an Israeli tourist staying in the hotel, and just wandered into the room to see what all the commotion was about and bought the property because he liked it.   “It was extraordinary, he was a new face, but the money arrived the next day by bank transfer. So it has established a precedent for local agents at £2,000 per sq ft.”   estelle.maxwell@estatesgazette.com