A fantasic auction result for our friends at Clive Emson Auctioneers! Their latest auction sale this month raised more than £24m, and was their largest auction by lot numbers in 13 years! We are delighted for them, and to share some of the highlights from last week - there were 195 land and property lots listed across Devon, Cornwall, Sussex, Kent, Essex, Hampshire and Isle of Wight.
James Emson, Managing Director, said: “More than £24m was raised in our latest auction - the sixth of eight this year - and the largest by lot numbers for the firm since 2012.
“There were various bidding wars, including for a block of nine flats at 25 Grimston Avenue, Folkestone, Kent, let at £35,340 pa. The building went for £1,206,000, more than twice the guide price, with 196 bids made (lot 97).
“The historic Old Town Hall, High Street, Gravesend, was also the centre of a bidding war, with the final bid of 219 coming in at £791,000, which was £391,000 above guide price. The building is by Kent’s largest indoor street food hall (lot 112).
“We look forward to cataloguing other similar land and property treasures across southern England in October, our penultimate auction of the year.”
Also sold through the firm was a substantial residential, commercial and grazing land complex at Wentfield, Gravesend Road, Wrotham, Sevenoaks, Kent. The site, covering nearly 12 acres, was guided at £1.5m – £1.8m, with a total combined income of £112,400 pa (lot 82).
Other highlights included vacant land adjacent Rainbow’s End in the village of Sandon, Chelmsford, Essex, £201,000 (lot 72) and The Bull Inn at Cavendish, near Sudbury, Suffolk, £255,000 (lot 129).
With adjoining land, a former 2,000 sq ft Salvation Army citadel in Eastbourne, East Sussex, sold for £195,000 (lot 100), and a freehold block of five flats in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, fetched £458,000, a gross rental yield of 8.7% (lot 93).
In West Sussex, a former bank premises with vaults and metal bar windows in East Grinstead went for £186,000, which was £46,000 above the lower end of the guide price (lot 118).
A mixed-use investment in the Portsmouth suburb of Fratton, Hampshire, with four commercial units and six flats, let at £57,960 pa, went for £681,000, a gross rental yield of 8.5% (lot 92).
In Over Wallop, Stockbridge, near Grateley in Hampshire, a detached bungalow with a workshop and garage brought in 45 bids, with the final one at £491,000, which was £91,000 above the lower end of the guide price (lot 121).
On the seafront, The Chine Inn at Chine Hill, Shanklin, Isle of Wight, pulled in 30 bids and went for £391,000, which was £41,000 more than the lower end of the guide price (lot 98).
In the West Country, an office which started life as a clerical home in the 1850s, with planning for residential conversion, sold for £108,000 and is at the East Devon town of Ottery St Mary (lot 86).
While a historic former church and naval club at the heart of Exeter, Devon, went for £220,000 (lot 108) and a detached bungalow, chalked for improvement, in Treskerby, Redruth, Cornwall, sold for £211,000 (lot 169). PHOTO ATTACHED
The next auction concludes on 30 October, with bidding live 48 hours beforehand. Lot entries close on 6 October, with the catalogue available online from 9 October.