Essential Information Group

May 2020 Newsletter

EIG monthly Newsletter

Essential Auction News

Welcome to the May newsletter that looks back at auction activity in April and preceding periods. Last month's newsletter (April’s reporting on March) reported on the transition from a completely open market to one where in the latter part of the month we were under lockdown and unable to continue business in the usual fashion without restriction.

Notwithstanding that, April saw a number of auctions held and indeed a great deal of stock sold. The number of lots offered was down 43% and amount raised down 56%. Against the backdrop of all the auction teams having to work from home, viewings virtually impossible or at the very least difficult, I feel the results are a credit to the industry. More importantly virtually every auction house now has at least one or two auctions behind them in the lockdown environment, and all are planning their future auctions which hopefully will take place under reduced lockdown restrictions.

Anecdotally, we are seeing the number of lots offered in the recent and upcoming auctions being an increase on the lots offered in the auctions which took place immediately after lockdown. Whilst I don't feel we will see an immediate return to pre Covid-19 numbers, I do feel the number lots offered and sold will gradually move up as committed vendors and buyers are able to trade in the open and practical property auction market using auctions that are either ‘live streamed’ from an auction room with all bids coming in remotely, or in a totally online auction environment.

As always I welcome comments and your views on the market, and I wish you and your colleagues well in these difficult times.

Please note the newsletter can also be viewed online.

Overall Statistics April 2020
Auctions Held in the UK 486
Total Lots Offered 1,305
Total Lots Sold 877
Percent Sold 67.2%
Total Realised £107,805,916

National Auction Analysis

Overall

N.B. Figures in brackets denote the comparative period last year

April 2020 February 2020 to April 2020 May 2019 to April 2020
Lots Offered 1,305 (2,292) 43.1% 6,603 (8,017) 17.6% 27,416 (31,096) 11.8%
Lots Sold 877 (1,676) 47.7% 4,871 (5,996) 18.8% 20,561 (22,997) 10.6%
Percent Sold 67.2% (73.1%) 8.1% 73.8% (74.8%) 1.3% 75.0% (74.0%) 1.4%
Total Raised £107.8M (£244.8M) 56.0% £793.9M (£1,038.0M) 23.5% £3,375.7M (£3,980.9M) 15.2%

Residential

N.B. Figures in brackets denote the comparative period last year

April 2020 February 2020 to April 2020 May 2019 to April 2020
Lots Offered 1,153 (1,991) 42.1% 5,627 (6,915) 18.6% 23,214 (26,251) 11.6%
Lots Sold 775 (1,463) 47.0% 4,170 (5,170) 19.3% 17,433 (19,333) 9.8%
Percent Sold 67.2% (73.5%) 8.6% 74.1% (74.8%) 0.9% 75.1% (73.6%) 2.0%
Total Raised £99.4M (£194.1M) 48.8% £619.8M (£750.9M) 17.5% £2,518.5M (£2,857.2M) 11.9%

Commercial

N.B. Figures in brackets denote the comparative period last year

April 2020 February 2020 to April 2020 May 2019 to April 2020
Lots Offered 152 (301) 49.5% 976 (1,102) 11.4% 4,202 (4,845) 13.3%
Lots Sold 102 (213) 52.1% 701 (826) 15.1% 3,128 (3,664) 14.6%
Percent Sold 67.1% (70.8%) 5.2% 71.8% (75.0%) 4.3% 74.4% (75.6%) 1.6%
Total Raised £8.4M (£50.7M) 83.4% £174.1M (£287.1M) 39.4% £857.2M (£1,123.6M) 23.7%

Regional Auction Analysis

As is usually the case, variations across all the measurable parameters can be seen across the regions.

N.B. Figures in brackets denote the comparative period last year

East-AngliaEast Anglia

February 2020 to April 2020 Total Residential Commercial
Lots Offered 251 (300) 16.3% 206 (241) 14.5% 45 (59) 23.7%
Lots Sold 166 (208) 20.2% 136 (162) 16.0% 30 (46) 34.8%
Percent Sold 66.1% (69.3%) 4.6% 66.0% (67.2%) 1.8% 66.7% (78.0%) 14.5%
Total Raised £22.8M (£37.6M) 39.2% £17.7M (£24.8M) 28.4% £5.1M (£12.8M) 60.2%

East-MidlandsEast Midlands

February 2020 to April 2020 Total Residential Commercial
Lots Offered 481 (552) 12.9% 411 (465) 11.6% 70 (87) 19.5%
Lots Sold 373 (417) 10.6% 319 (357) 10.6% 54 (60) 10.0%
Percent Sold 77.5% (75.5%) 2.6% 77.6% (76.8%) 1.0% 77.1% (69.0%) 11.7%
Total Raised £50.9M (£61.6M) 17.2% £37.4M (£43.0M) 13.0% £13.6M (£18.6M) 27.0%

LondonLondon

February 2020 to April 2020 Total Residential Commercial
Lots Offered 523 (652) 19.8% 493 (587) 16.0% 30 (65) 53.8%
Lots Sold 424 (477) 11.1% 399 (428) 6.8% 25 (49) 49.0%
Percent Sold 81.1% (73.2%) 10.8% 80.9% (72.9%) 11.0% 83.3% (75.4%) 10.5%
Total Raised £170.6M (£226.6M) 24.7% £158.6M (£174.8M) 9.3% £12.0M (£51.7M) 76.9%

North-EastNorth-East

February 2020 to April 2020 Total Residential Commercial
Lots Offered 562 (747) 24.8% 530 (703) 24.6% 32 (44) 27.3%
Lots Sold 349 (579) 39.7% 336 (549) 38.8% 13 (30) 56.7%
Percent Sold 62.1% (77.5%) 19.9% 63.4% (78.1%) 18.8% 40.6% (68.2%) 40.5%
Total Raised £20.2M (£44.1M) 54.1% £19.3M (£35.7M) 45.8% £0.9M (£8.4M) 89.2%

North-WestNorth-West

February 2020 to April 2020 Total Residential Commercial
Lots Offered 1,226 (1,385) 11.5% 1,011 (1,178) 14.2% 215 (207) 3.9%
Lots Sold 853 (1,019) 16.3% 710 (878) 19.1% 143 (141) 1.4%
Percent Sold 69.6% (73.6%) 5.4% 70.2% (74.5%) 5.8% 66.5% (68.1%) 2.3%
Total Raised £88.1M (£100.1M) 11.9% £59.8M (£71.3M) 16.1% £28.3M (£28.8M) 1.8%

North-West-Home-CountiesNorth-West Home Counties

February 2020 to April 2020 Total Residential Commercial
Lots Offered 376 (381) 1.3% 319 (344) 7.3% 57 (37) 54.1%
Lots Sold 287 (295) 2.7% 242 (263) 8.0% 45 (32) 40.6%
Percent Sold 76.3% (77.4%) 1.4% 75.9% (76.5%) 0.8% 78.9% (86.5%) 8.8%
Total Raised £56.6M (£79.9M) 29.2% £41.6M (£65.1M) 36.1% £14.9M (£14.8M) 1.1%

Northern-IrelandNorthern Ireland

February 2020 to April 2020 Total Residential Commercial
Lots Offered 66 (137) 51.8% 59 (121) 51.2% 7 (16) 56.3%
Lots Sold 31 (62) 50.0% 30 (57) 47.4% 1 (5) 80.0%
Percent Sold 47.0% (45.3%) 3.8% 50.8% (47.1%) 7.9% 14.3% (31.3%) 54.3%
Total Raised £2.3M (£5.6M) 58.6% £2.2M (£5.4M) 59.1% £0.1M (£0.2M) 45.3%

ScotlandScotland

February 2020 to April 2020 Total Residential Commercial
Lots Offered 106 (134) 20.9% 64 (109) 41.3% 42 (25) 68.0%
Lots Sold 79 (94) 16.0% 43 (72) 40.3% 36 (22) 63.6%
Percent Sold 74.5% (70.1%) 6.3% 67.2% (66.1%) 1.7% 85.7% (88.0%) 2.6%
Total Raised £9.3M (£8.4M) 10.4% £2.5M (£3.9M) 34.8% £6.7M (£4.5M) 49.8%

South-East-Home-CountiesSouth-East Home Counties

February 2020 to April 2020 Total Residential Commercial
Lots Offered 923 (1,141) 19.1% 785 (987) 20.5% 138 (154) 10.4%
Lots Sold 702 (853) 17.7% 594 (738) 19.5% 108 (115) 6.1%
Percent Sold 76.1% (74.8%) 1.7% 75.7% (74.8%) 1.2% 78.3% (74.7%) 4.8%
Total Raised £152.8M (£199.1M) 23.3% £117.3M (£139.8M) 16.1% £35.5M (£59.4M) 40.2%

South-WestSouth-West

February 2020 to April 2020 Total Residential Commercial
Lots Offered 424 (536) 20.9% 348 (422) 17.5% 76 (114) 33.3%
Lots Sold 346 (418) 17.2% 282 (318) 11.3% 64 (100) 36.0%
Percent Sold 81.6% (78.0%) 4.6% 81.0% (75.4%) 7.4% 84.2% (87.7%) 4.0%
Total Raised £66.2M (£75.3M) 12.1% £50.9M (£49.6M) 2.7% £15.3M (£25.7M) 40.7%

WalesWales

February 2020 to April 2020 Total Residential Commercial
Lots Offered 472 (511) 7.6% 377 (428) 11.9% 95 (83) 14.5%
Lots Sold 336 (362) 7.2% 276 (306) 9.8% 60 (56) 7.1%
Percent Sold 71.2% (70.8%) 0.6% 73.2% (71.5%) 2.4% 63.2% (67.5%) 6.4%
Total Raised £34.9M (£38.8M) 9.9% £24.5M (£24.5M) 0.1% £10.4M (£14.3M) 26.7%

West-MidlandsWest Midlands

February 2020 to April 2020 Total Residential Commercial
Lots Offered 608 (850) 28.5% 533 (746) 28.6% 75 (104) 27.9%
Lots Sold 476 (634) 24.9% 421 (559) 24.7% 55 (75) 26.7%
Percent Sold 78.3% (74.6%) 5.0% 79.0% (74.9%) 5.5% 73.3% (72.1%) 1.7%
Total Raised £65.6M (£89.2M) 26.4% £51.8M (£66.7M) 22.4% £13.8M (£22.5M) 38.5%

Yorkshire-and-The-HumberYorkshire and The Humber

February 2020 to April 2020 Total Residential Commercial
Lots Offered 585 (691) 15.3% 491 (584) 15.9% 94 (107) 12.1%
Lots Sold 449 (578) 22.3% 382 (483) 20.9% 67 (95) 29.5%
Percent Sold 76.8% (83.6%) 8.1% 77.8% (82.7%) 5.9% 71.3% (88.8%) 19.7%
Total Raised £53.5M (£71.8M) 25.5% £36.0M (£46.3M) 22.2% £17.5M (£25.5M) 31.5%

Your Comments

If you would like to comment on anything in this email, or have any suggestions for future newsletters, we would like to hear from you. So please email us anytime.

A word from the editor

David Sandeman
As ever I welcome any feedback you may have regarding the newsletters or indeed the wider market in general.

Kind regards

David Sandeman
davids@eigroup.co.uk

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