SDL Bigwood has sold what it believes to be the most expensive private house to come under the hammer in Birmingham.
The property was one of 79 sold lots out of the 93 offered at SDL’s 20 October auction at Aston Villa Football Club, which raised £8.7m with an 85% success rate.
The freehold, five-bedroom house on Farquhar Road in Edgbaston sits on a 1.2 acre plot and sold for £1.4m off a guide of £1.25m to £1.3m.
SDL’s auction executive partner Gurpreet Bassi said: “It’s the most expensive residential property we’ve seen at a Birmingham auction.
“We’re now able to sell stuff that would never have sold at auction before, or that would have gone to London.”
The change reflects the more mainstream appeal of auctions as well as demand from regional vendors for sales held “on their doorstep”, he said.
The previous owner had not lived in the house, or changed its 1970s interior, said Bassi.
“It probably hasn’t been lived in for 20 years plus,” he said.
The new owner is understood to be a local individual who plans to use it as a family house.
Another lot bought by a private individual was a leasehold, three-bedroom house in Sutton Coldfield, which sold for £187,500 off a guide price of £95,000 to £105,000.
On the same day, SDL Graham Penny, the East Midlands-based house bought by SDL earlier this year, raised £4.2m from 57 lots – an 81% success rate – at its sale at iPro Stadium, Derby.
SDL also bought Chester auction firm Humphreys on 5 October, and Bassi said his firm would continue to expand.
