Auctions Update

ARTICLE

Auctions Update

By Robert Marchant FNAVA Auctioneer, Clive Emson Land & Property Auctioneers

They say time stands still for no-one. That’s certainly the picture in the world of property auctions as we near the end of what has been a very different year for us all!

Back in mid-March when the first lock-down was started, the land and property auction industry, like so many others was faced with a great deal of uncertainty as to what the immediate future may hold.

For an industry that has traditionally had as one of its prerequisites, a room full of keen and eager bidders, the prospect of no longer being able to gather sellers and potential buyers together in a sale room was a daunting one.

Had the COVID crisis hit even five years ago the prospects would indeed have been bleak, but fortunately, many of the same technologies that have enabled so many of us to continue to work remotely through the lockdowns came to the rescue and enabled business to continue.

On-line auctions had been quietly developing a presence over the last five years, with those auction houses such as ours that had invested in the technology being able to offer what was considered something of a niche product, for those sellers that had particular time-scale requirements that perhaps didn’t fit with the traditional cycle of ballroom sales, or who perhaps preferred the on-line method of sale.

As a result, Clive Emson Auctioneers and others have continued to hold auctions all through both of the lockdowns and that “niche” product of on-line sales has in the space of a few short months, become the new normal for land and property auctions.

Hard copy catalogues, which had remained remarkably popular over recent years as the print media generally had been shrinking, have been replaced entirely, certainly for the time being, with on-line catalogues.

During the first lockdown physical viewings of almost all Lots were dealt with almost exclusively by virtual video tours, but this didn’t seem to deter would be buyers and bidding was as keen as ever and the success rates both for the percentage of Lots sold and the sale prices achieved both held up remarkably well. After the first lock-down, physical viewings, following government guidelines, were again on the agenda, though interestingly, many prospective buyers have continued to rely on video and pictures, rather than inspecting in person.

One of my concerns at the outset of the first lock-down had been over bidding and the prospect that potential buyers, may not get so competitive as I have witnessed so many times over the years from the rostrum in a live auction setting. I needn’t have been concerned, indeed I could certainly make a case that in many instances potential bidders have got even more determined in the virtual world, than they may have done in a live auction setting increasing the eventual sale price for our clients.

The way the technology works is that unlike for example an eBay auction, there is no guillotine end to the bidding at a set time. There is a provisional finishing time for each Lot, but if anybody bids in the last five minutes of the allotted time, the bidding window is automatically extended back to five minutes, giving other interested parties an opportunity to consider and submit a counter bid.

As a result, many Lots have continued, well past their provisional end times, with several running on into the evening, not that the sellers or indeed the auctioneers have been complaining!

With money laundering ID and deposit arrangements in place for potential purchasers ahead of bidding, sellers have had the same security and benefit of a speedy and defined timescale as was the case pre-lockdown.

As a result, Sellers have continued to entrust their land and property with us and bidders/buyers have adapted seamlessly to the online auctions, with many appreciating the extra lengths we have gone too to make the whole process as easy as possible, while they have also still had the re-assurance of an exchange at the fall of the ‘virtual’ gavel.

Even self-confessed dinosaurs and luddites among our audience of purchasers have adapted to online and we have even had one auction regular, who swore he never would, get into tech, buying himself a lap-top and joining the 21st Century!

While the above may seem difficult to believe by some, our statistics endorse this. Since the beginning of the year we have secured sales of £110 million of land and property on behalf of our clients, with a success rate of over 75%. Additionally, there have been 24,500 requests for the legal packs, over half a million visitors to our own website and approaching five millionpage views!

So, what of the future? It seems impossible to believe that we will not at some stage return to traditional ballroom auctions, but it is certain that on-line sales are also here to stay, and they will certainly not return to the pre-lockdown status of a niche offering. ■