February sale raises £25m

Acuitus raised £25.05m from its February auction which was characterised by a broad range of international and domestic buyers investing in an equally broad range of assets. Greek, South African and Russian investors were among the successful bidders present in the room.

The sale posted Acuitus’s highest “in the room” success rate – 69% – since its launch in May of last year . At £1.3m, the average sale  price in the auction maintained Acuitus’s reputation for consistently achieving average lot sale prices above £1m.

The lots sold represented 74% of the catalogue by value of total guide prices.

Acuitus auctioneer Richard Auterac commented: “Today’s sale demonstrated the depth and variety of investor interest in the commercial property sector.

“The range of the assets which attracted buyers, the prices commanded and the yields reflected shows that there are always buyers for assets which are brought to the market with a depth of detail and correctly priced.

In what will remain a challenging commercial property market, we were delighted to see Acuitus’s auction approach being once again endorsed by such a busy room featuring a large number of successful international and UK bidders. 

“Our sales attract a huge range of investors and are providing a further indication of the way forward for the property sector and pricing levels.

“With purchase prices ranging from £330,000 to over £3m, a yield spread from as low as 3% through to 14% and lots sold including medical, nursery and licensed properties together with

a residential development site, this was a sale that clearly demonstrated the breadth of appetite that investors have.”

By value, no one property type represented more than 23% of the lots sold and the geographic spread of properties offered included Ipswich, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Cardiff, Hove, Mansfield, Redhill and Wakefield as well as a number  of properties in central London.

Notable sales included:

• A 8,117-sq ft freehold medical centre/office in Pinner Road, Harrow was the subject of very competitive bidding and finally sold at £1.2m at a yield of 4.06% – £400,000 above the guide price
• A 10,830-sq ft freehold tyre depot let to Kwik Fit at Shoreham Road, Hove, East Sussex sold for £1.08m at a yield of 5.83%
• A freehold BP/Mace petrol filling station at Milton Keynes sold for £2m at a yield of 8.02%
• A development site in London’s West Kensington which could accommodate the construction of three townhouses was guided at £300,000 and sold for £670,000 following sustained bidding
• The continued popularity of ground rent investments was demonstrated by the sale of the GRI at Units 64 & 72 on the Middlefield Industrial Estate in Sandy, Bedfordshire, for £3.06m (guide price: £2.7m)
• All three Enterprise Inn pubs in the auction sold for a total of £2.65m at yields ranging from 6.2%-7.06%
• All seven lots entered into the sale on behalf of LPA Receivers sold well for a total of £6.6m 

The next two Acuitus auctions will be on April 7 and May 26 at the Millennium Hotel, Grosvenor Square, London W1.