Auction
House – operating as Loveitts Auction House in Coventry and Warwickshire - is
announcing that the first three months of 2021 have been the best-ever annual
first quarter in the 14-year history of the group.
A
total of 826 properties were sold between January and March this year, from
1041 offered – a success rate of 79.35%, raising a total of over £128m
(£128,427,102). The amount of money raised is almost 40% (38.9%) above the
figure raised in the first three months of 2020 (£92,451,493).
It
was also the best-ever March for the group, with 371 lots sold from 459 offered
– a success rate of 80.83% and a total raised of £63,667,201.
Commenting
on the results, Sally Smith, Auctioneer and Director said: “These are the sorts
of figures which will really make our competitors sit up and take notice!
Nobody out there is performing quite like we are and nobody else has the same
number of lots going under the hammer. Auction House has turned into the F1 of
property auctioneers – and the truth is, there’s plenty of mileage left in the
tank!
“This
would be a superb set of figures in conventional times, but after having to
deal with a global pandemic for the past twelve months, they are nothing less
than exceptional.
“A
year ago, who would have thought that a business which used to rely on holding
room auctions at venues across the UK could continue to flourish through three
national lockdowns and a ban on people gathering together? It’s incredible to
see how our teams around the country have not only adapted to the new way of
working, they have positively embraced it - with online auctions instantly
gathering momentum and our livestream sales attracting record numbers of
registered bidders well into four figures for many of our auctions.
“All of this bodes well for our new marketing approach, which is about to swing into operation, as well as other exciting ideas we have to take the business forward. We’ve made a substantial financial investment in a new digital platform which will launch in Q4 of this year and have hired a digital content creator to help ensure that we retain our position as the number one auctioneer in the country.”
Planning
is already underway for the Auction House National Annual Conference on 4 June
– which will be held virtually via Zoom for the first time – as well as a brand
uplift for later in the year.