LSH beats sales record with £17m auction

Lambert Smith Hampton enjoyed its best sales figure to date on Monday, raising more than £17.3m at a success rate of 77%. The firm, which launched its auctions business in 2010, beat its previous best total of £16.2m in 2014 and last year’s highest total of £14.7m. Last year’s July sale raised £7.5m. This week’s auction featured 65 lots, with 49 sold, 44 in the room and three prior. Head of auctions Oliver Childs said he expected the figures for the most recent sale to rise above £20m and 80% within 10 days. “We are in our infancy as a business, and there is a lot of room for growth,” he added. “We are a relatively new brand in the auction room, although our staff are experienced in the auctions industry.” Eight lots were sold on behalf of an executor acting for the estate of an elderly woman who died two years ago. They were guided at £4.1m and sold for more than £5.5m. One of the lots sold was a parade of eight shops in Didcot, Oxfordshire, with flats above and an annual rental income of £108,500, which was purchased by a London property company for £2.1m off a guide of £1.5m. Childs said: “This was the stand-out lot for the sale. Our target price was £1.8-£1.9m, so it was a strong result.” Another shopping parade with flats in the same collection of lots, located in Woking, Surrey, had a guide of £675,000-£700,000 and sold for £908,000. Separately, a three-floor office building with development potential in Slough, Berkshire, was purchased for £1.3m off a guide of £1.25m, and a three-floor building with shop on the high street in Winchester, Hampshire, with a guide of £975,000-£1m, sold for £1.1m. A former public toilet block in Bath, Somerset, with development potential, was guided at £10,000 but sold for £182,000. The auction was held at Le Méridien Piccadilly Hotel, W1. David Callaghan