Wide range of sectors to feature at Acuitus June auction

28th May 2021

The Acuitus auction on June 16th will feature 58-lots with guide prices ranging from £50,000 – £1.5m+.

The vast majority of lots offered are located in some of the UK’s most vibrant centres, with the sale offering a wide range of mixed use & development opportunities as well as convenience store, pharmacy, medical, banking and retail investments in London locations including Whitecross Street (EC1), Holloway (N7), Clapham (SW4/SW7), Wanstead (E11) & Uxbridge (UB8) and outside London in centres including Stratford-upon-Avon, Bicester & Wells.

Acuitus Chairman, Richard Auterac, comments: “High Street locations are benefitting from increased interest following the government’s expansion of permitted development rights (PDR), permitting the conversion of use class E buildings into homes. It’s not a one rule fits all for commercial high street units, but certainly there’s investor appetite out there for residential conversion, with recent figures indicating a stark uptake in change of use”.

Of the lots to be offered on UK high streets, Acuitus will be selling a portfolio of 15 pharmacies individually, all to be let on new 15-year leases from completion (no breaks) to Avicenna with RPI uplifts. The pharmacies produce annual income ranging from just £4,400 to £41,100, with guide prices from £50,000 to £500,000.

“Pharmacies have attracted a high public profile during the pandemic, with an uptake in transactions in 2020. We’re seeing a spike in sales activity from parties currently outside the sector looking to invest for the first time.”

The largest lots at the auction are two freehold assisted living investments in Clapham, London. The properties at 6 Lynette Avenue and 16 Cavendish Road are both let to a UK Charity for 16.5 years. They each produce an annual income of £82,222 with RPI rental uplifts and are being offered with a guide price of £1.5m+. Both offer underlying residential potential in an affluent South-West London location and this is backed by good, long income streams.

Richard Auterac comments: “Assisted living properties in key locations with proximity to amenities such as retail are attractive due to their offer of care and independent living. In an aging population, these properties will become like gold dust to institutional and private investors”.

Other lots in the sale include:

  • Old Bank House, Uxbridge, London: Freehold medical centre investment. Let to NHS Foundation Trust on a 25-year lease expiring March 2026 (no breaks). Producing £110,000 per annum. Guide price: £1.4m+
  • Mill Hill, London, NW7: Freehold bank, retail & residential investment. Bank let to Santander UK PLC on a new 3-year lease, plus shop & large flat. Producing £86,625 per annum. Guide price: £1m/£1.1m
  • Wanstead, London, E11: Unbroken freehold retail parade investment. Tenants including Churchill Estates, Petty Son & Prestwich Estate Agents and independent retailers. Producing £85,750 per annum. Guide price: £1.3m/£1.35m
  • Whitecross Street, London, EC1: Freehold retail and residential investment. Shop let to tenant trading as Barbican Pizza until October 2033 (no breaks) plus three flats let on a separate lease. Producing £72,429.60 per annum. Guide price: £1.2m

The auction will take place at 1pm and will be broadcast via livestream on the Acuitus website with bidding online, by telephone and by proxy.