Office assets were in demand as the Acuitus July auction raised a total of £48.68m with a success rate of 90%.
An office building in York which has permitted development rights for residential conversion sold for £6.02m. The 43,468 sq ft United House in Piccadilly Court was formerly occupied by the Crown Prosecution Service. PDR were approved by York Council for the conversion of the property to 102 dwellings last year while an alternative scheme to convert it to 59 homes was given consent subsequently.
Of the five lots which sold for more than £2m, four were office properties and the sector accounted for more than half of the money invested at the sale.
Acuitus auctioneer, Richard Auterac, commented: “There is now serious interest in the regional office sector and it is the subject of concerted buying.
“As with United House, this is being fuelled partly by the scope for residential development, but experienced investors are also seeing that they can buy income-producing properties at good entry yields and also have the prospect of further upside through asset management”.
Another York office building, Saxby House, which is let to Siemens plc until 2022 with a tenant break in 18 months sold for £3.53m at a yield of 8.5% and a £177 per sq ft capital value.
The average price achieved for the 53 lots sold in the auction was £919,000.
An Odeon cinema investment in Banbury Cross sold for £2.2m at a yield of 5.5% while a prime shop in Romsey let to Superdrug sold for £1.35m at a yield of 5.1%.
Of the London lots in the sale, two properties occupied by estate agents attracted strong interest.
A 1,454 sq ft shop at 287 New Kings Road in Parsons Green let to Countrywide Estate Agents until 2025 sold for £1.07m at a yield of 4.2%. In Northcote Road, Battersea, a 906 sq ft shop let to Marsh & Parsons until 2030 sold for £1.19m at a yield of 4.7%.
Richard Auterac comments: “The price levels and yields reflected by this sale demonstrate both the quality of property we are bringing into the auction room and also the level of investor interest.
“Our first four auctions of this year show a 15% increase on the corresponding period in 2014, and we expect that momentum to carry through to our next auction in October.
“There is an exceptional level of demand in the auction room at present and that offers sellers great opportunities.”
Other sales in the July auction included:
The fifth Acuitus auction of 2015 will take place on October 22nd at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel, Portman Square, London W1.
