Acuitus got off to a quick start to the year with its first auction selling 23 properties and raising £17.3m in front of a busy and vibrant room of buyers.
A shop in London’s Holloway Road let to Vodafone until 2026 at a current annual rent of £53,500 sold for £1.13m at a yield of 4.4% while the £1.3m guide price for a Wyevale Garden Centre investment in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, was easily surpassed as competitive bidding saw the lot sell for £1.855m at a yield of 6.6%.
Drive-thru restaurants and coffee outlets remain popular with investors. A Starbucks Coffee Drive-Thru in Portsmouth that adjoins Oceans Retail Park, and is let to a franchisee until 2038 with no breaks and RPI-linked rent reviews, sold for £1.43m at a yield of 6.5%.
There was also good demand in the room for industrial assets: a Nationwide Car Repair Centre in Mossley, Greater Manchester, which is let until 2023 and currently produces annual income of £32,000, sold for £450,000 at a yield of 6.8%.
Auctioneer, Richard Auterac, commented: “It’s a very precise market and – when the asset and investor align – demand is good and pricing is strong. Demand is not confined to a particular property type or location as evidenced by the assets we sold in this auction.
“This gives us confidence for 2019 as we have shown that there is a widespread pool of investors that we can access though our channels.”
The next Acuitus auction will take place on April 4th at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel, 22 Portman Square, London W1H 7BG.
