BidX1 plans to start auctioning property in Cyprus and Spain

BidX1 is pressing ahead with plans to start auctioning property in Cyprus and Spain in October. The online digital platform announced on Thursday (5 September) that it is planning to hold its first online auction of Spanish property on 16 October, while a first online auction of property in Cyprus will be held on 23 October. BidX1 said that its inaugural Spanish sale would include more than 100 assets, with a broad range of lot sizes and asset types. The company added that its Cyprus auction, which will be held a week later, will include around 60 assets, all of which will be located in the Republic of Cyprus and not in the adjoining Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, much of which is the subject of ongoing property disputes between the two countries. Johnny Horgan, BidX1’s managing director of Europe, said the auctioneer was planning to export its experience of setting up digital auctions in Ireland to the new markets before opening up in Portugal, Greece and Italy next year. The company is currently in expansion mode. It employs a team of 16 in its offices in Madrid, which it opened in May, while in Cyprus it has a team of eight. The company says it plans eventually to hold eBay-style property auctions covering every major city in the world. “It’s very exciting because there really isn’t anyone doing this sort of thing at the moment in Spain or Cyprus,” he said. “The market in Spain especially is huge, so the opportunities are very big. In every market we have entered, we have found that it creates a halo effect, where more and more buyers come online and more and more sellers want to sell through us.” BidX1 was founded in Dublin in 2011 as Allsop Space, a joint venture with Allsop, which aimed to capitalise on property sales in the aftermath of the Irish property crash. The controversial nature of the auctions prompted protests. BidX1 founder and CEO Stephen McCarthy pioneered an online format in 2015. By 2017, the company had dropped its ballroom auctions and a year later it exported its online auction format to both the UK and South Africa. BidX1 said that it expected to have sold a total of around 2,000 properties through its digital auctions this year, with a total value of around €450m – up from around €300m in 2018. However, results so far have been mixed. At its most recent UK auction in July, BidX1 sold just 59% of the lots offered – well below the market average of 71%. In its July auction in Ireland, on the other hand, the company reported a success rate of 75%. “We’re not worried by these results,” Horgan added. “Property cycles naturally ebb and flow.” Photo: Shutterstock