Introducing our final Auction Sale of 2020
Welcome to this, our final auction catalogue for 2020. Well, what a year it has been! I have always tried to convey a little market news and sentiment in my catalogue introductions and thought we should look back to the start of the year and the landscape at that time and how things have changed.
The introduction to our sale held on the 3rd February painted a very different landscape when I wrote: “With so much uncertainty in the political world, well certainly the UK, now behind us, I truly believe we can look forward with optimism for a year that will see the re-balance and restoration of confidence in the UK property market and wider economy”. Well I have to admit I didn’t quite get that one right!!
We just squeezed in our second venue sale of the year on 9th March and at that sale, the guidance was to have some hand sanitiser dotted around the venue and all will be fine! Little did we know that that would be our last visit to The Grand Connaught Rooms in 2020 and what was to follow.
Despite lock down and many of my team working remotely from home, we staged our first online auction less than a month later on 7th April and proved the model worked.
Combining lots from all of our group regional auction centres we have now staged monthly two day online sales plus three small interim sales to fit with specific client timing requirements. Through all of these challenges my team have, as always, displayed absolute focus, tenacity and skills to deliver solutions for us to deliver for our clients. We have invested hugely in online tools, Covid secure viewing arrangements and where able, online video tours for those that can’t travel or are restricted from doing so, to still view the stock and bid.
The market remains strong and buyers are still very active, buoyed not only by low interest rates but of course the stamp duty holiday that remains in place until 31st March 2021 and possibly beyond if the industry is successful in persuading Mr Sunak that this would be the right thing to do.
To put this year in context, in 2019 for the whole year, Barnard Marcus offered just under 2,000 lots with a capital value of sales at some £230 Million. As a group and including this sale, for 2020 we will have offered over 2,550 lots. The capital value of our sales already exceeds £245 Million which, and following this sale, is going to be far higher. These results clearly demonstrate that sellers are confident to use our auction service and buyers remain confident that property will always survive in the harshest of economic challenges.
So for 2021, we look forward to returning to the auction venues across the country as soon as we are able. In the meantime for this and ongoing sales we have introduced new requirements at bidder registration and, to ensure buyers are fully aware of their commitment when bidding, we will require a deposit to be paid prior to allowing people to bid.
In the meantime and on behalf of my team at Barnard Marcus and all our regional auction centres, we wish you Season’s Greetings, a prosperous safe and healthy 2021 and more than anything else, we look forward to seeing you again at our auction venues as soon as it is safe to do so.
