Buyer appetite for higher-risk assets pushed sales at Acuitus’s 12 February auction to £25.3m – a 76% success rate.
The auction house sold 34 of 45 lots, including 10 for more than £1m, at its first auction of 2015 at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel, W1.
The average sale price was more than £745,000.
The top lot was the sale of the long leasehold interest in the 72,000 sq ft Cobalt Square office tower in Birmingham, which was snapped up by a private London investor for £1.8m – a 12.7% initial yield.
The multi-let building currently produces annual income of £248,836 but has a substantial amount of vacant space.
It was sold on behalf of a private property company.
A small shop with residential uppers in need of refurbishment in Brighton, West Sussex, also sold well. It fetched £670,000 against a guide price of £400,000.
Auctioneer Richard Auterac said: “We have for some time seen the commercial property auction room populated with investors seeking secure, long-term investments but that group of buyers is now being balanced by those who are taking a more entrepreneurial approach.”
