Allsop’s first commercial auction of 2017 raised £56.5m from 147 lots with a success rate of 81%.
Of 118 lots sold, 97 were purchased in the room, 16 prior and five after the sale.
The sale total was down on last year’s £75.6m, but higher than the five-year average for Allsop commercial February sales, which is less than £50m.
Retail lots made up the largest proportion in the sale, with £36.5m raised and a success rate of 83%, with leisure investments such as pubs and gyms accounting for £5.6m and industrial sites £4.1m.
“The demand for really good retail investment is very strong, but it is selective,” said auctioneer Duncan Moir. “People don’t want to bid quite as keenly for lesser quality property.”
Moir said more buy-to-let investors are switching from pure residential properties to mixed-use.
The sale included 14 lots valued at more than £1m, of which 11 were sold, and included a mixed-use property in Epsom High Street, Surrey, which sold for almost £1.7m off a guide of £1.1m. More than 30 people attended the sale to bid for that lot.
A former pumping station converted into a climbing centre guided at £900,000-plus sold prior to auction for an undisclosed amount. The Grade II listed Victorian building in Stoke Newington, N4, is one of the biggest climbing facilities in London and generates an annual income of £110,000.
Nearly £1.4m was paid for a Sports Direct gym in Newark, Nottinghamshire, and a property in Wandsworth, SW1, which includes a day nursery, achieved more than £1.4m.
The sale was held at the Park Lane Hotel, W1, on 7 February.
