£8.3 million auction bonanza for CPBigwood19th December 2012

CPBigwood’s December auction notched up an 81 per cent success rate with more than £8.3 million being raised on the day.

There were Christmas bargains galore at CPBigwood’s final auction of the year. A host of keenly priced homes across the Midlands proved early presents for bidders at a packed Holte Suite at Aston Villa.

Out of the original 101-strong catalogue, including pre-sales, 94 lots were offered in total.

A total of 76 were sold making a success rate of 81 per cent – the total amount raised was more than £8.3 million.

CPBigwood partner Ian Tudor said: “We sold 92 per cent of the commercial lots, which was a record not only for this year, but also pre-economic downturn. There was a real appetite for commercial stock which bodes well for 2013.”

Jonathan Hackett, partner and head of auctions, said: “The auction room was packed and there was a real festive buzz.” 

The auction saw 15 out of 17 local authority lots (88 per cent) sold, five out of six fixed charge receiver/LPA receivership lots (83 per cent) and 22 out of 27 vacant commercial lots (82 per cent).

Notable ones included land at 115 Pottery Road, Oldbury, guide price £80,000, sold for £125,000; 81-83 Stafford Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, a town centre restaurant/café, £125,000, £200,000; a shop at 122/122A Hawthorn Road, Kingstanding, Birmingham, with separate self-contained living accommodation above, £70,000, £135,000; and two lots of garages at Great Barr and Stafford, one with a guide of £10,000 which sold at £17,000 and the other with a guide of £8,000, making £16,000.

All eight pubs on offer were snapped up, most prior to the auction.

The recently refurbished Railway Inn, 96 Bromford Road, West Bromwich, guide price £195,000, went for a knock-down £150,000 and in Kidderminster the Crown Inn, Old Chester Road South, guide price £295,000 sold for £305,000.

Changing hands ahead of the event were The Spring Cottage, 60 Elmore Green Road, Bloxwich; the Stepping Stones, Birmingham Street, Stourbridge; The Bell, Bell Lane, Kitts Green, Birmingham; The Vauxhall, Abbey Road, Evesham; The Punchbowl, Tuttle Hill, Nuneaton; and The Bird in Hand, 942 London Road, Stoke-on-Trent.

A guide price of £450,000 was being asked for the three acre Vulcan Works, Hayes Lane, Stourbridge, on behalf of the administrative receivers of industrial group, Rhodes & Cartwright. It too was sold prior to the auction.