Symonds & Sampson’s auction on 31 July provided buyers with a selection of properties throughout Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Somerset.  With buyers coming from all parts of the south and a strong contingent from London this resulted in some fierce bidding for many of the lots.

Dorset lots included; an industrial site in Shaftesbury which sold for £56,000; an interesting development/investment project in the centre of Blandford selling for £210,000; and a flat in Barrack Street, Bridport, which had been on the market with other agents for over 3 years, selling for £115,000.

The highlight, however, was Rugby Cottage in Bourton, near Gillingham, which had received terrific interest from people with over 50 viewers during the campaign.  Guided at £175,000 with several didders in the room exhausted it was left to two people, one local and one in France, to push the bidding to the limit of £230,000.

In Hampshire 16 acres of arable land on the edge of the village of Grateley, near Andover, sold for over £21,000 per acre whilst 2.89 acres of grazing land in the New Forest National Park near Cadnam, on the edge of Southampton, sold for £85,000.

Somerset properties are always popular and a development opportunity close to Yeovil town centre with planning permission for a pair of semi-detached properties sold for £270,000 whilst a detached property for modernisation, again with planning permission for a pair of semi-detached houses, sold for £215,000.  A block of 8 flats located in the centre of Langport was particularly popular.  The potential rental of over £30,000 meant that there was a large amount of interest and the guide of £225,000 was easily exceeded with the hammer falling at £308,000.

The star of the show, however, was 2 Chur Lane in West Coker.  Over 70 people had viewed the property, 9 legal packs were downloaded and 2 structural surveys had been carried out so we knew that there was going to be good competition in the room.  The guide of £275,000 was well exceeded with the hammer falling at £375,000.

Auctioneer Mark Lewis says that it is always difficult to gauge how much interest there will be at this time of year because of the school holidays but the momentum that we saw throughout June continued right up to auction day and we were delighted with the result. Whilst other auctioneers are struggling to sell 75% of their stock our figures were stunning.