The property auctioneer says that traditionally, in times of world upheaval, people invest in property rather than in the stock market.
Jeremy Prior, Auction House managing director, explained: “Of course, the first thing to say is that our hearts go out to the Ukrainians and the horrific suffering they are currently going through. All of us want to see a speedy and safe resolution to the conflict, and an opportunity for those individuals to be able to return home.
“However, for the rest of us, in times of global volatility, it is important to keep calm and make measured decisions, as opposed to knee jerk ones which often come back to haunt us. And it’s true that in moments such as these, investors tend to choose bricks & mortar, rather than stocks and shares.
“In difficult times, investments which you can see, touch, and feel tend to be the safest and most popular – which is why property does so well. History shows us that it’s happened before, and we have no reason to believe it won’t happen again.”
His comments come as Auction House release their results for the first two months of the year, which indicate a rise even on the group’s healthy performance in 2021.
The group offered 576 properties during that time and sold 475 of them – a rise of 4% year on year – with a success rate of 83% (up from 79% last year) and raising a total of £64,753,600.
Jeremy comments: “Our sales continue to be strong, the market remains robust, and demand continues to outstrip supply – as evidenced by our performance this year so far.
“All of this is set against a challenging background of coming out of Covid, where we continue to offer livestream auctions across the country because the pandemic has proved they are what both buyers and sellers prefer. So, I can safely say that livestream internet bidding is not going away!
“Even our auctioneers choosing to return to live venues are working on a hybrid basis, with the auction taking place both in-room and online, effectively offering the best of both worlds to our clients.
“Right now, we need to understand that the stock market is extremely sensitive to world events - as is evidenced by the FTSE 100 Index falling by over 600 points since the middle of February and the imminent invasion of Ukraine by Russia. But we also know that the property market tends to be less price-sensitive and a safe bet in difficult times.
He concludes: “At Auction House we have literally hundreds of experienced and professional experts across the UK, calmly going about their business, taking properties for sale into their auctions, and servicing the ever-increasing demand from investors seeking sanctuary in bricks and mortar.”
