UK Auction Houses See Surge in Lots Offered and Slump in Sales

Housing-Market / UK Housing May 23, 2008 - 11:48 AM GMT

Best Financial Markets Analysis Article Welcome to the May newsletter that looks primarily at auction activity in April 2008.

The lack of liquidity in the money markets has again been reflected in the subdued sale rate with only 59% of lots finding buyers. This is the national figure and do take a look at the regional variation which is shown in the tables at the bottom of this newsletter.

National Auction Analysis
As with March 2008, April saw an increase in lots offered overall, when compared with the same month last year, but a decrease in both the number of lots that sold and amount raised. It is interesting to see that as with previous months the percent sold for commercial lots is consistently higher than for residential sales, though generally the number of commercial lots coming to auction is slightly lower when looking at rolling quarterly and yearly figures. April 2008 did see though, a 23% increase in the number of commercial lots offered over April 2007.

Total

	Last Month			Last Quarter			Last Year
	April 2008	April 2007	Increase	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase	May 2007 - April 2008	May 2006 - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	3,294	2,789	18.1%	10,544	10,363	1.7%	38,372	35,393	8.4%
Lots Sold	1,933	2,113	-8.5%	6,840	8,075	-15.3%	26,136	27,461	-4.8%
Percent Sold	59%	76%	-22.5%	65%	78%	-16.7%	68%	78%	-12.2%
Total Raised	£307,185,249	£355,245,504	-13.5%	£1,217,438,376	£1,923,580,617	-36.7%	£5,244,112,321	£6,333,573,126	-17.2%

Residential

	Last Month			Last Quarter			Last Year
	April 2008	April 2007	Increase	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase	May 2007 - April 2008	May 2006 - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	2,722	2,328	16.9%	8,487	8,135	4.3%	30,949	27,801	11.3%
Lots Sold	1,557	1,748	-10.9%	5,320	6,275	-15.2%	20,572	21,309	-3.5%
Percent Sold	57%	75%	-23.8%	63%	77%	-18.7%	66%	77%	-13.3%
Total Raised	£201,397,599	£290,689,624	-30.7%	£793,249,607	£1,062,328,835	-25.3%	£3,333,308,567	£3,481,054,665	-4.2%

Commercial

	Last Month			Last Quarter			Last Year
	April 2008	April 2007	Increase	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase	May 2007 - April 2008	May 2006 - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	568	461	23.2%	2,057	2,195	-6.3%	7,423	7,592	-2.2%
Lots Sold	375	365	2.7%	1,520	1,777	-14.5%	5,564	6,152	-9.6%
Percent Sold	66%	79%	-16.6%	74%	81%	-8.7%	75%	81%	-7.5%
Total Raised	£105,687,650	£64,555,880	63.7%	£424,188,769	£832,225,782	-49.0%	£1,910,803,754	£2,852,518,461	-33.0%

Regional Auction Analysis

Following the pattern that has been evident in the past, there has been a wide variation in the percent sold across the regions. The national trend of a higher percentage of commercial lots selling when compared with residential lots was seen in every region.

East Anglia

Total
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	302	297	1.7%
Lots Sold	222	235	-5.5%
Percent Sold	73.5%	79.1%	-7.1%
Total Raised	£37,586,800	£50,054,251	-24.9%
Residential
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	233	231	0.9%
Lots Sold	162	188	-13.8%
Percent Sold	69.5%	81.4%	-14.6%
Total Raised	£25,695,800	£27,884,250	-7.8%
Commercial
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	69	66	4.5%
Lots Sold	60	47	27.7%
Percent Sold	87.0%	71.2%	22.1%
Total Raised	£11,891,000	£22,170,001	-46.4%

East Midlands

Total
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	909	769	18.2%
Lots Sold	626	586	6.8%
Percent Sold	68.9%	76.2%	-9.6%
Total Raised	£86,080,860	£88,186,156	-2.4%
Residential
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	740	651	13.7%
Lots Sold	487	488	-0.2%
Percent Sold	65.8%	75.0%	-12.2%
Total Raised	£50,476,800	£59,489,100	-15.1%
Commercial
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	169	118	43.2%
Lots Sold	139	98	41.8%
Percent Sold	82.2%	83.1%	-1.0%
Total Raised	£35,604,060	£28,697,056	24.1%

London

Total
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	1104	1140	-3.2%
Lots Sold	818	1009	-18.9%
Percent Sold	74.1%	88.5%	-16.3%
Total Raised	£274,448,150	£426,723,194	-35.7%
Residential
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	991	953	4.0%
Lots Sold	727	842	-13.7%
Percent Sold	73.4%	88.4%	-17.0%
Total Raised	£223,495,650	£276,615,194	-19.2%
Commercial
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	113	187	-39.6%
Lots Sold	91	167	-45.5%
Percent Sold	80.5%	89.3%	-9.8%
Total Raised	£50,952,500	£150,108,000	-66.1%

North-East

Total
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	630	610	3.3%
Lots Sold	295	402	-26.6%
Percent Sold	46.8%	65.9%	-28.9%
Total Raised	£40,425,249	£67,253,598	-39.9%
Residential
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	562	544	3.3%
Lots Sold	252	358	-29.6%
Percent Sold	44.8%	65.8%	-31.9%
Total Raised	£25,413,749	£37,511,648	-32.3%
Commercial
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	68	66	3.0%
Lots Sold	43	44	-2.3%
Percent Sold	63.2%	66.7%	-5.1%
Total Raised	£15,011,500	£29,741,950	-49.5%

North-West

Total
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	1733	1919	-9.7%
Lots Sold	957	1386	-31.0%
Percent Sold	55.2%	72.2%	-23.5%
Total Raised	£121,062,999	£204,237,570	-40.7%
Residential
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	1400	1507	-7.1%
Lots Sold	754	1062	-29.0%
Percent Sold	53.9%	70.5%	-23.6%
Total Raised	£76,405,999	£121,561,303	-37.1%
Commercial
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	333	412	-19.2%
Lots Sold	203	324	-37.3%
Percent Sold	61.0%	78.6%	-22.5%
Total Raised	£44,657,000	£82,676,267	-46.0%

North-West Home Counties

Total
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	491	548	-10.4%
Lots Sold	357	425	-16.0%
Percent Sold	72.7%	77.6%	-6.2%
Total Raised	£105,802,801	£167,855,550	-37.0%
Residential
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	392	372	5.4%
Lots Sold	278	281	-1.1%
Percent Sold	70.9%	75.5%	-6.1%
Total Raised	£57,576,301	£70,104,950	-17.9%
Commercial
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	99	176	-43.8%
Lots Sold	79	144	-45.1%
Percent Sold	79.8%	81.8%	-2.5%
Total Raised	£48,226,500	£97,750,600	-50.7%

Northern Ireland

Total
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	13	49	-73.5%
Lots Sold	12	34	-64.7%
Percent Sold	92.3%	69.4%	33.0%
Total Raised	£1,352,000	£49,196,000	-97.3%
Residential
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	13	16	-18.8%
Lots Sold	12	11	9.1%
Percent Sold	92.3%	68.8%	34.3%
Total Raised	£1,352,000	£20,170,000	-93.3%
Commercial
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	0	33	-100.0%
Lots Sold	0	23	-100.0%
Percent Sold	0.0%	69.7%	0.0%
Total Raised	£0	£29,026,000	-100.0%

Scotland

Total
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	249	245	1.6%
Lots Sold	175	159	10.1%
Percent Sold	70.3%	64.9%	8.3%
Total Raised	£22,351,313	£33,911,901	-34.1%
Residential
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	160	153	4.6%
Lots Sold	104	92	13.0%
Percent Sold	65.0%	60.1%	8.1%
Total Raised	£7,272,753	£5,150,551	41.2%
Commercial
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	89	92	-3.3%
Lots Sold	71	67	6.0%
Percent Sold	79.8%	72.8%	9.5%
Total Raised	£15,078,560	£28,761,350	-47.6%

South-East Home Counties

Total
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	1439	1469	-2.0%
Lots Sold	1013	1187	-14.7%
Percent Sold	70.4%	80.8%	-12.9%
Total Raised	£205,641,304	£312,737,901	-34.2%
Residential
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	1154	1115	3.5%
Lots Sold	803	909	-11.7%
Percent Sold	69.6%	81.5%	-14.6%
Total Raised	£129,565,355	£161,083,845	-19.6%
Commercial
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	285	354	-19.5%
Lots Sold	210	278	-24.5%
Percent Sold	73.7%	78.5%	-6.2%
Total Raised	£76,075,949	£151,654,056	-49.8%

South-West

Total
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	766	772	-0.8%
Lots Sold	500	668	-25.1%
Percent Sold	65.3%	86.5%	-24.6%
Total Raised	£86,001,700	£167,864,099	-48.8%
Residential
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	548	527	4.0%
Lots Sold	329	444	-25.9%
Percent Sold	60.0%	84.3%	-28.7%
Total Raised	£48,080,700	£84,158,899	-42.9%
Commercial
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	218	245	-11.0%
Lots Sold	171	224	-23.7%
Percent Sold	78.4%	91.4%	-14.2%
Total Raised	£37,921,000	£83,705,200	-54.7%

Wales

Total
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	679	651	4.3%
Lots Sold	428	483	-11.4%
Percent Sold	63.0%	74.2%	-15.0%
Total Raised	£47,899,750	£61,877,350	-22.6%
Residential
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	534	552	-3.3%
Lots Sold	323	400	-19.3%
Percent Sold	60.5%	72.5%	-16.5%
Total Raised	£30,917,450	£41,535,850	-25.6%
Commercial
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	145	99	46.5%
Lots Sold	105	83	26.5%
Percent Sold	72.4%	83.8%	-13.6%
Total Raised	£16,982,300	£20,341,500	-16.5%

West Midlands

Total
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	1304	1032	26.4%
Lots Sold	866	827	4.7%
Percent Sold	66.4%	80.1%	-17.1%
Total Raised	£113,732,200	£145,218,264	-21.7%
Residential
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	1032	826	24.9%
Lots Sold	657	669	-1.8%
Percent Sold	63.7%	81.0%	-21.4%
Total Raised	£76,840,700	£84,646,345	-9.2%
Commercial
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	272	206	32.0%
Lots Sold	209	158	32.3%
Percent Sold	76.8%	76.7%	0.2%
Total Raised	£36,891,500	£60,571,919	-39.1%

Yorkshire and The Humber

Total
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	925	862	7.3%
Lots Sold	571	674	-15.3%
Percent Sold	61.7%	78.2%	-21.1%
Total Raised	£75,053,250	£148,464,783	-49.4%
Residential
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	728	688	5.8%
Lots Sold	432	531	-18.6%
Percent Sold	59.3%	77.2%	-23.1%
Total Raised	£40,156,350	£72,416,900	-44.5%
Commercial
	February - April 2008	February - April 2007	Increase
Lots Offered	197	174	13.2%
Lots Sold	139	143	-2.8%
Percent Sold	70.6%	82.2%	-14.1%
Total Raised	£34,896,900	£76,047,883	-54.1%

Your Comments

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By David Sandeman
Managing Director
davids@eigroup.co.uk

Essential Information Group, 1A Church Street, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 0AA
Website: http://www.eigroup.co.uk
Telephone: +44 1737 226150
Company Reg: 2972048

The Essential Information Group was formed in 1990 to provide the property industry with detailed information as to the results of all London property auctions. It now covers the whole of the UK and is recognised as the industry standard for auction information and currently includes details on over 400,000 properties and over 35,000 lots each year worth in excess of £5.6 billion.

A range of services are available as described in subscriber services . A strategic alliance was formed with the Estates Gazette , the leading property publication in 1995 to promote auction information on the Estates Gazette internet site EGi.

The information in this article is based on the property information given to the Essential Information Group by the auction houses offering the property for sale. However, it should not be relied upon for the purchase of property and the information should be verified with the auction house concerned to ascertain its accuracy.

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