David Sandeman, managing director of Essential Information Group, which supplied the data for EG’s Auction Market Analysis, says it has been “a year of two halves” for the industry.
H1 sales figures were down year-on-year owing largely to the huge spike in sales seen in early 2016, when buyers rushed to beat the stamp duty changes for buy-to-let and second homes.
But sales improved year-on-year in H2, despite the backdrop of Brexit uncertainty and political turmoil following the General Election result.
The residential league table shows that the top 15 firms sold £3.4bn of stock last year – down by 2.1% on 2016.
The top six commercial auctioneers sold almost £1.2bn last year, down by less than 1% on 2016.
The commercial sector had been boosted by the work-out of distressed loan books by the likes of Lone Star in 2016, but this supply of assets reduced substantially last year.
The Top 12
There were some changes in the ranking of the top 12 auctioneers.
A 14% dip in the total raised by commercial specialist Acuitus put it back into fourth place after it overtook residential firm Savills for the first time last year.
Savills, meanwhile, saw a slight drop of 2.1% in its overall total.
Further down the table, former number 10 Countrywide Property Auctions is no longer ranked after stopping its London residential sales in February.
Birmingham auctioneer SDL Auctions Bigwood jumped straight into number 11 from 13, after an 18% year-on-year rise in total amount raised to £87m.
Market totals
■ Total raised in the combined residential and commercial auctions market shrank slightly in 2017, to £4.6bn, reflecting a 1.9% drop on the previous year’s total of £4.7bn.
■ The total raised from residential lots sold was hit harder, down by 2% to £3.2bn, while the total raised from commercial lots sold dipped by 0.8%, to £1.5bn.
■ This was in contrast to the growth seen last year – particularly in commercial, which was up by 9%.
■ However, the overall success rate improved slightly year-on-year, settling at 75.8%.
Top auction houses by region
There were two changes to the top tier this year.
In Northern Ireland, last year’s top firm BRG Gibson was overtaken by Osborne King.
In Yorkshire and the Humber, IAM Sold’s West Yorkshire Property Auction overtook last year’s top performer, Mark Jenkinson & Son.
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