PROPERTY auctioneer Auction House, which has an office in Carlisle, has announced its sales figures for the first quarter of this year.

By the time the hammer came down in its final March auction, the group had sold a total of 701 properties.

Colin West, auctioneer and director for Auction House, said: “This is the identical number sold during a record quarter last year, and is an impressive 77 per cent success rate.

"The figures also indicate that auction is the first property sector to re-establish itself back to the sales levels we saw before the EU Referendum last year.

“No longer are auctions a ‘last resort’ route to market. In fact, they are now becoming the ‘go-to’ place to sell properties for improvement or development, various types of land, anything that’s mixed-use, blocks or rows of garages, or any property which is tenanted - both residential and commercial.

“The switch to selling auction lots at sales close to where they are situated is very noticeable, as is the growth in the number of people who are ‘buying-to-live’, rather than ‘buying-to-let’ – primarily because such purchasers don’t have to factor-in a profit margin.”

Auction House says it now sells one in every seven auction properties in the United Kingdom.

The group's auction rooms have recently seen a surge in entries of large, impressive properties – including a six-bed Victorian house in St John’s Wood, London, which sold for £3.25m, a nine-bed farmhouse in Radlett, Hertfordshire which was guided at £1.5m, and a nine-bed stately home in Hawick, Scotland, which was guided at £495,000.

Mr West said: “More sellers now understand the logic behind marketing with keen guide prices and the benefits of competitive bidding in our auction rooms.

"The real advantages of speed, certainty and a transparent process have made auctions a genuine, mainstream alternative.”