Acuitus’ final auction of 2016 raised £41.125 million, bringing the year’s total sales to £354 million – the firm’s best ever performance. Meanwhile, the volume of properties sold at Acuitus’ auctions is up 23% year on year.   Chairman Richard Auterac commented: “Whether it’s buying a standing investment or a property which has asset management or conversion potential, investors and their advisors see that the high end commercial property auction room can supply the product which fits their investment goals.   “If sellers can bring to market the right assets at the right price with the required depth of information, they can tap into this growing investor demand.”  

The biggest sale on the day was a retail unit on Kentish Town Road in London NW5 which raised £1.74 million, while a Barclays Bank in Godalming sold for £1.23 million at a yield of 4.4%.   Despite this strong performance in 2016, Richard Auterac still expects to see buyers out in force in 2017. “Although this has been a tremendous year for the sector with more than £1 billion of commercial property assets being sold at auction for the first time since 2007, the reality is that there is still a lot of unsatisfied investor demand out there. This means that there are significant opportunities for sellers.  

“However, we have seen this year that a common denominator among assets that sell well has been the depth of information provided. Accordingly, vendors should be instructing us as early as possible so we can ensure that the appropriate level of data is collated and can be professionally presented to potential buyers.   “We’d strongly recommend that sellers contact us as soon as possible if they are considering selling in early 2017.”   Acuitus’ first auction of 2017 will take place at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel, 22 Portman Square, London W1H 7BG on Thursday 16 February.