Buy-to-let investments were in favour at Allsop’s residential auction yesterday as 80% of lots on offer sold.
The sale at the Park Lane hotel on Piccadilly, W1, raised £33.4m as 203 of 255 lots sold.
Buy-to-let investors looking for smaller lot sizes requiring less equity sparked a notable uptick in running investments in provincial towns and cities.
Nineteen out of 20 flats let on ASTs in Ipswich sold for £45,000 to £61,000, an average yield of 9.6%, while six flats in Leeds made between £70,000 and £116,000 – an average yield of around 9.4%.
Homes in desirable locations with owner-occupier appeal also prompted aggressive bidding. A two-bedroom cottage in Seaton, Devon, sold for £215,000 off a £70,000 guide, and a flat in St Katharine Docks, E1, guided at £170,000-£180,000, made £340,000.
Auctioneer Gary Murphy said: “Lots that did not sell were over-priced; it is all down to pricing. The market is being driven by more buyers who are using their own money to purchase and this is making their focus on price increasingly acute.”
The largest lot of the day, a mixed-use office and residential investment in Kenton, Middlesex, guided at £1.4m, sold for £1.8m.
