Allsop has sold one of its most expensive commercial lots, as sales climbed to pre-recession levels at its latest auction.
The auction achieved a 79% success rate and raised £63.6m, the highest sales figure for a February commercial auction since 2007.
Bids soared to £7.2m off a £4m guide for a freehold mixed-use development in Ruislip, Middlesex, generating rent of £218,540 pa and reflecting a 3% yield. The site included vacant offices, a shop, a maisonette and four car parking spaces.
The lot, which went to a private buyer, was a receivership sale. Allsop commercial partner and auctioneer Duncan Moir said this added to its appeal, as it showed there was a “very well-motivated vendor”.
However, receivership sales have dropped steeply in the past few years. Moir said: “Receiverships were always going to tail off a little bit as a lot of loan books, rather than being broken up, were being sold by volume to specialist book buyers.”
Another receivership sale also performed well at the auction. A parade of shops in Neasden, NW10, was broken up and sold as five separate lots, fetching a combined £3.3m off a £2m guide.
Moir said these were “good, solid, suburban retail units” with flats above and in a “good-looking building”.
He suggested that recent stock market fluctuations could be fuelling an interest in property.
The most expensive commercial lot sold under the hammer by Allsop was a 5,138 sq ft shop with basement and flat above, in Earls Court, SW5, which sold for £7.9m in March 2007.
