Auction House declares ‘business as usual’, despite Brexit uncertainty
The UK’s largest residential property auctioneer Auction House says that uncertainty surrounding the EU referendum had very little impact on sales, and is reporting a performance level close to last year.
The group’s June figures were similar to those in 2015, with 252 lots sold (only 8 fewer than last year) but at a noticeably better success rate of 81% (a 4% increase on last year’s result).
The statistics for the first six months of 2016 indicate a rise across the board compared to the same period last year, with 1,513 lots sold out of 1,959 lots offered (a success rate of 77.2%), raising a total of £208.6m.
Commenting on the data, Auction House Founding Director Roger Lake said: “Despite economic uncertainties brought about by the forthcoming referendum vote, the June auction market was ‘business as usual’ in most areas. In fact, a total of five of our sales that month reported a 100% success rate. We are a results-based business and our level of performance continues to impress.
“Our key strength lies in affordable volume stock in the regions, where people tend to buy for a purpose rather than a profit. So we predict that these areas will be least affected by any fall-out from Brexit that may follow.”
Roger Lake accepted that challenging times lay ahead, but suggested that any negative impact could be short-lived, provided that availability of mortgages remains and interest rates stay stable.
He explained: “Auction House entries for July are steady, with the total projected to be only 5% down on last year. We are now trading in a climate of opportunity and I expect the repercussions of Brexit to be quickly accommodated.
“No doubt there are uncertainties on the horizon, which means that we will witness a period of reflection. Top end residential and high ticket commercial lots are likely to be hit hardest, with London set to find conditions the most challenging of all.
“Nevertheless, in the auction sector, any rebalancing tends to happen rather quickly – so we would expect Auction House numbers to regain their previous level by the Autumn.”
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