"Auction sales in Q4 alone saw our agents walk away with over £11 million in fees, with the rise in sales seen across all four corners of the UK. I expect they’ll see a good first quarter too, with the Stamp Duty rush still live and more consumers in a position to enter the market"
- Jamie Cooke - iamproperty
New data from property auctioneer, iamproperty, shows auction sales from its network of over 6,500 Estate Agency branches accounted for 1.2% of all UK property transactions in 2024. This is up from 1% in 2023, as more vendors are choosing auctions as a faster and more secure alternative to Private Treaty.
Agents enjoyed a strong end to the year, using auctions as a tool to help sales complete before the SDLT threshold lowers from 1st April 2025. Between October and December, 2,832 sales (up by 20%) from iamproperty’s agent network raised a record £511 million in Capital Value, a 26% increase compared to Q4 2023 and surpassing the half-a-million mark for the first time in a single quarter.
The data comes from iamproperty’s Q4 Online Auction Index which is now live. Regional analysis shows a particular rise in auction activity in the North of England, with sales up by 28%. Sales in the South were not far behind, up by 27%**, supported by active auction markets in London and Kent.
“Over the past year, we’ve seen interest rates reduce and affordability improve, contributing to increased stock availability and a healthier market," explained Jamie Cooke, Co-Founder of iamproperty, "This paired with the demand for faster completions to help buyers avoid paying more in Stamp Duty has opened up strong opportunities for our agent network, by being able to offer auction as a route to faster sales with a much smaller chance of fall throughs,"
“Auction sales in Q4 alone saw our agents walk away with over £11 million in fees, with the rise in sales seen across all four corners of the UK. I expect they’ll see a good first quarter too, with the Stamp Duty rush still live and more consumers in a position to enter the market,” he added.
Looking ahead to the rest of Q1, Jamie predicts that, "More buyers and sellers are realising that Private Treaty is no longer a viable option if they want to beat the costs involved with the lowered SDLT threshold.
"Our network will be using auction to its full potential, helping their clients to buy and sell before the deadline. Political uncertainty at the beginning of last year soon shifted, and we are entering the new year with a more optimistic market with higher consumer confidence. The new Labour government’s ambitions to reduce red tape in the planning process may also make way for a faster growth in new build stock this year,” he concluded.
