UK property auctions market sees decline

The property auctions market in the UK continued to slow during the last month, with both the number of lots offered and sold sliding.

Data from a report by the Essential Information Group (EIG) shows that overall lots offered fell by 6.5% in the last month, from 2,962 to 2,769.

Lots sold also fell, by 5.7%, from 2,188 to 2,064.

In addition, the total raised at auction slipped by £32m to £402m, a fall of 7.3% from the £434 raised in March 2016.

Activity

The annual decline can be largely attributed to the surge in market activity seen between February and March last year, as investors rushed to complete deals before the Stamp Duty changes in April.

David Sandeman, managing director at EIG, said: ‘We may also be witnessing a market which is just easing back the throttle a little,” he said. “It wouldn’t be unsurprsing either, considering that the government has recently introduced measures to try and cool the buy-to-let market whilst house price inflation has also seemingly slowed.’[1]

Despite the fall in numbers, Mr Sandeman observed that it was encouraging that auctioneers are experiencing an average sale rate of 75%

The table below shows how the auction market fared in March 2017:

UK property auctions market sees decline

Instructions

The residential sector saw instructions slip by 9.3% over the last month, while sales fell by nearly 8% to 1,646.

Mr Sandeman went on to observe that the figures: ‘should not be cause for alarm’ as the decline is almost entirely due to ‘record-breaking activity’ seen in Q1 last year.[2]

[1] https://www.propertyinvestortoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/4/uk-property-auctions-market-is-easing-back-the-throttle-a-little