Savills’ latest remote sale raises second highest total of the year
A retail and residential investment opposite John Lewis in Kingston upon Thames sold for £3.7m in the latest Savills sale.
The remote auction on 24 September saw £40m raised with 89 lots sold from 125 offered, a 72% success rate.
This is Savills’ second highest total this year, edging close to the £42m it raised in-room in February. It brings the total value of property Savills has sold through auction in 2020 to £194m.
A retail and residential investment opposite John Lewis in Kingston upon Thames sold for £3.7m in the latest Savills sale.
The remote auction on 24 September saw £40m raised with 89 lots sold from 125 offered, a 72% success rate.
This is Savills’ second highest total this year, edging close to the £42m it raised in-room in February. It brings the total value of property Savills has sold through auction in 2020 to £194m.
The part vacant corner building in Kingston, Surrey (lot 27, pictured), contains three shops and four flats and was guided at £3.5m. It currently produces £157,333 and could offer potential to increase the number of flats.
A Lloyds bank and residential uppers on Earls Court Road, SW5 (lot 19), sold prior to auction well ahead of its £2.8m guide.
“There’s money out there and it wants to find a home,” said Christopher Coleman-Smith, head of Savills Auctions team.
Stock in regional cities was selling well, he said, as illustrated by an executors sale in Stretford, Manchester. The three-bedroom house sold for £250,000 from a £200,000 guide.
Coleman-Smith said the team was seeing an increase in interest from Europe, the Middle East and Far East, while UK interest was steady and was being encouraged by the temporarily reduced rates of stamp duty. The Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire did well from the sale of a four-bedroom house in Hitchin, Hertfordshire (lot 67), which sold for £1.025m from a guide of £700,000. A rarely available football stadium in Surrey (lot 24) sold for £495,000.
Coleman-Smith added: “We had 130 telephone bidders, an option not provided by all virtual auction styles. Buying a property is both a big step and a large financial commitment for many. The number of phone bidders that we saw highlights that people are still craving the experience of talking to a real human and being walked through the buying process.”
Seeing a good number of registered bidders for a lot does not necessarily translate into a sale, he added. “You still need to speak to people and engage.”
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