Acuitus raised £25.93m from the sale of 24
lots on December 9 which saw the commercial property auction house
pass the £100m mark for assets sold since it was set up in April of
this year.
Once again the Acuitus auction was characterised by a wide range
of assets selling for an average price of more than £1m, and with
two selling for more than £3m.
Central London investments remain very popular with investors,
but there were also notable sales in Brighton, Hounslow,
Bedfordshire and Nottinghamshire as buyers made it clear that there
is demand for properties across the office retail, industrial and
leisure sectors.
Notable sales included:
- Two City of London freeholds at Bow
Lane and Well Court sold for £1.06m and £1.43m respectively at
yields of 5.9% and 4.5%.
- The 28,137-sq ft Gala Bingo Unit in
Hounslow sold for £2.8m at a yield of 5.8%
- Refuge House: a 25,132 sq ft multi-let office investment in
Enfield sold for £3.25m at yield of 9.6%.
- The Santander Bank in Brixton Road,
London SW9 demonstrated continued investor appetite for investments
let to major banking plcs as it sold for £1.905m against a guide
price of £1.5m. The yield was 5.7%.
- Ground rents remain popular with a
large island block in central Manchester selling £1.08m at a yield
of 4.8%.
- A 7,523-sq ft freehold tyre depot investment in Luton let to Kwik-Fit sold for £1.28m at a
yield of 5.9%.
- There was good interest in properties located around Brighton. A 940-sq ft freehold retail
investment in the town's Duke Street went for £945,000 at a yield
of 5.9% having been guided at £795,000 while a 581-sq ft shop in
Hove sold for £355,000 at a yield of 5.1%.
- A freehold industrial/office development in Worksop sold for £490,000.
Acuitus auctioneer, Richard Auterac, commented: "The wide range
of asset types on offer drew strong buying power into the room
and this was reflected in the average sale price of £1m-plus per
lot.
"Central London investments and the stock flowing from banks,
LPA receivers and administrators - several of whom were present at
the sale- continue to generate substantial buyer interest. This
sale demonstrated that for the right product there is investor
appetite across all the sectors.
"For all of the team here at Acuitus, to have passed the £100m sales mark after less than eight months
since the formation of a new business is a great achievement. The
market has responded very positively to our independent, specialist
approach and we're looking forward to building on this year's
progress with our clients and partners in 2011.
"The momentum in the market is being maintained despite the
onset of the festive season and we are already working with clients
for our first and second auctions of the New Year."
The next two Acuitus auctions will be on
February 22 and April 7 at the Millennium Hotel, Grosvenor Square,
London W1.