The first full month of lockdown auctions saw the total raised by the sector more than halve to £108m in April compared with the previous year.
In a climate of deep uncertainty, with all teams working from home and physical viewings rendered nigh on impossible, auctioneers nevertheless held 485 online and remote-bidding-only sales.
This was almost a fivefold increase on the number of auctions held in April 2019, when activity was concentrated on 107 much larger auctions held almost entirely in-room.
The April figures from Essential Information Group show that the total raised was down 56% on April 2019.
The number of lots offered was down 43% to 1,305, while lots sold dropped by 48% to 877.
Sales of residential stock almost halved to £99.4m, while commercial saw a more dramatic fall of more than 80% to £8.4m.
However, the number of lots coming through the system does now seem to be on the rise, according to EIG managing director David Sandeman.
“While I don’t believe we will see an immediate return to pre-Covid-19 numbers, I do feel the number of lots offered and sold will gradually move up as committed vendors and buyers are able to trade in the open and practical property auction market using auctions that are either live streamed from an auction room, with all bids coming in remotely, or take place in a totally online environment,” he said.
Sandeman described April’s results as “a credit to the industry” given “the backdrop of all auction teams having to work from home and viewings being virtually impossible, or at the very least difficult”.
“More importantly, virtually every auction house now has at least one or two auctions behind them in the lockdown environment, and all are planning their future auctions, which hopefully will take place under reduced lockdown restrictions,” he said.
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