This month's property auction saw 234 bids for a former youth hostel in the South – with the hammer coming down on £600,000.

The building in East Dean Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, was among 168 lots listed by Clive Emson Auctioneers across southern England in the firm’s May auction (lot 77).

More than £22m was raised for clients in the auction, the third of eight this year.

Clive Emson Auctioneers’ next auction concludes on June 12, with bidding live from June 10. Lot entries close 19 May, with the catalogue live from 22 May.

James Emson, Managing Director, said: “We were instructed by Eastbourne Borough Council to sell the former YHA property, which is in an elevated position overlooking the seaside town.

“Such was the interest, 234 bids were made in total from the £230,000 guide price, leading to the £370,000 increase to £600,000.”

He added: “Our May auction, the third of eight this year, once again proved that auctions are a transparent, efficient way of disposing of properties and land, with a global audience of sellers and buyers through our website.”

Let at £18,300 pa, a detached block of four two-bedroom flats at 12 Harold Street, Dover, Kent, went for £493,000 off a guide of £390,000 with 94 bids (lot 70).

A former doctors’ surgery, with new-build permission for 10 flats, at 31 London Road, Sittingbourne, Kent, fetched £560,000 (lot 60).

An extended end-terrace house, chalked for improvement, at Purfleet-on-Thames, Essex, fetched £353,000, which was £108,000 above guide, (lot 47) and a parcel of land in London’s Meath Road, Stratford, sold for £250,000 (lot 42).

In East Sussex, Abbeyfield House, North Road, Alfriston, Polegate, previously used for supported living, fetched £625,000 (lot 86).

On the disposal instructions of NHS Trust, a former facility at 75 Folders Lane, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, sold for £566,000 off a guide of £300,000, with 162 bids (lot 87).

A business centre near Southampton in Hampshire sold for £400,000. Let at £51,540 pa, Guildsrealm House is at Unit 39, Mitchell Point Estate, Ensign Way, Hamble. All nine letting offices are occupied, with a gross rental yield of nearly 13% for the new owner (lot 49).

On the Isle of Wight, at the edge of a landslip, an architecturally designed house with panoramic views of the English Channel and extensive grounds, sold prior to auction, with a guide price of £195,000-plus (lot 106).

Following disposal instructions by East Devon District Council, two former public conveniences in Sidford and Seaton went for £68,000 (lot 69) and £60,000 (lot 36) respectively.

Chalked for improvement, a character property called The Old Chapel at Sithney, Helston, Cornwall, sold for £165,000 (lot 103).