Barnett Ross has sold a shopping arcade for more than £1m above its guide in an auction that achieved an 88% success rate.
The auction raised £11.4m, down from the £17.1m raised by the auction house in May and the £11.9m it posted last July.
The first and largest lot of the day was a partly-let freehold shopping centre in Luton town centre, Bedfordshire, containing eight shops, three floors of offices, a basement, stalls, and seven advertising panels.
Tenants include two churches, a pharmacy, and a McDonald’s, producing £230,075 pa. Guided at less than £1.3m, it sold for £2.4m – a 9.91% yield.
Auctioneer John Barnett had inspected the property less than a week before the sale and it was added as a late lot.
Barnett said: “The Luton sale was satisfying to have dealt with so promptly, and particularly with a successful outcome.”
He put the results down to “clients listening to our advice on reserves”. Several lots had exceeded their reserves after only two bids, he said.
He added: “This is the trampoline effect – the lower the reserve is, the more it will make.”
