Allsop Residential has consolidated its position as the largest UK auctioneer, extending its lead over rival Savills.
Allsop Residential achieved overall sales of £420.8m in 2014, according to the latest data from Essential information Group. Savills retained second place in the residential league tables with £367.5m – an increase of £45m on 2013.
The auction houses came head to head last year with Allsop’s £336m total narrowly pipping Savills’ £332m figure.
Both sets of results represent significant gains for the firms, illustrating the buoyant auctions market which has seen overall sales on last year increase from £3bn to £3.4bn.
Barnard Marcus remained in third place, but increased its haul by £60m on last year, to a total of £270m.
This lengthened its lead over fourth-placed Clive Emson, which raised £128m – £8m up from the year before.
Meanwhile, McHugh & Co, jumped two places from seventh to fifth, raising a total of £103m.
Also making gains was Auction House London, which jumped four places in the tables from tenth to sixth, increasing its earnings by £40m to £94m.
But it was not all positive in the league. Pattinson Property Auctions, The Agents Property Auction, Andrew Scott Robinson, Sutton Kersh Auctions and Harman Healy all saw totals decline, dropping between 16.5% and 1.7% year-on-year.
With average success rates in the residential sector standing at 80%, the highest rates achieved were by Auction House London with 87.9%, followed by Clive Emson with 87% and Allsop Residential with 85.3%.
AHL auctioneer Andrew Binstock said sales in 2014 had “rocketed” due to increased stock, accessibility to finance and more interest in the auction room.
Savills auctioneer Chris Coleman-Smith said a strong first half had driven the improvement: “The price intensity of growth was very strong. More money came into the system which helped push 2014 forward.”
Allsop auctioneer Gary Murphy added: “2014 was the most successful year in the history of Allsop Residential.”
CBRE exit boosts market leaders
Allsop Commercial and Acuitus have increased their dominance over the commercial auction market.
As well as being the highest grossing auctioneer for 2014, Allsop Commercial posted a 38% increase on last year’s £379m total, raising 52% of the total market share – £524m.
Acuitus also saw a 36% increase on last year’s £176m raised, posting a total of £241m.
Following CBRE’s withdrawal from the auctions market in May, Acuitus’s market share was boosted to 24%.
Barnett Ross jumped from fourth to third place with a total of £64.5m, despite total sales dropping by 10% – down from last year’s total of £71m.
On average, commercial houses celebrated an 81% success rate and raised more than £1bn – a 17% improvement on 2013.
Osborne King achieved the highest success rate of the year, with 98.2%.
It moved up the table by one place from eighth to ninth with totals of £14m, a staggering 125% hike on last year’s takings of £7.8m.
