Buyers seeking a safe home for their cash turned to the residential sector at Savills’ auction yesterday.
Several big-ticket items sold for well over reserve, pushing totals to £38m. Some 90% of the 176-lot catalogue sold.
“The room was full to capacity and there was frantic bidding. It was almost back to 2007 levels,” said auctioneer Christopher Coleman-Smith. “There is good sentiment for residential investment as rents are going up around London and outside of it.
“I think buyers may be feeling a bit more secure about residential investment than they used to be compared to the secondary commercial market and are beginning to see it as more attractive,” he added.
Though the result was fueled by properties in London and the South East, where capital values, house prices and economies have remained robust – five properties sold for more than £1m – there was also “real demand” for keenly priced housing association stock in the regions, said Coleman-Smith.
