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.