Overseas investors were bidding in Bond Wolfe Auction’s record £24.6m sale

Overseas investors are now targeting Bond Wolfe Auction’s online live-streamed sales, it has been revealed.

A Hong Kong-based buyer was the final bidder for a £1 million commercial lot in Bond Wolfe Auction’s latest auction on Wednesday 17 February, an industrial/office investment at Island Works, 122 Holyhead Road, Birmingham.

Let to a long term established tenant, the landmark building between Birmingham and West Bromwich produces annual rental of £75,000.

Sue Randell, chief operating officer of Bond Wolfe Auctions, said: “The reputation of Bond Wolfe Auctions as a source of value investments is clearly spreading beyond the UK.

“From our Midlands base, we now attract lots from across the UK, and our bidders are no longer just regional property buyers. We see a lot from all over the UK, particularly London and the south east.

“But recently, we have been receiving enquiries and seeing bidders from Hong Kong, France, Spain, Holland, China and Singapore, to name just a few.

“Time zone differences don’t seem to matter when there is a good value investment to be had by bidding online, and our overseas buyers have proven very proficient in organising their professional advisers to complete on the tight timescales required by auction conditions.”

When Bond Wolfe Auctions’ 17 February sale started at the much earlier time of 8.30am to accommodate a record 224 lots, it was 4.30pm in Hong Kong.

But that made no difference to the buyer of lot 127, Island Works, which went under the hammer much later in the evening in Hong Kong.

The February auction was a remarkable result by any measures. A record catalogue achieving a record sales figure of £24.6m with a staggering success rate of 96%.

The marketing run-up to the auction resulted in 1,049,714 website page views, 237,758 video tours watched, and on the day over 3,500 were registered to bid with over 23,000 tuning into watch the auction live.

Sue Randell said: “The figures speak for themselves. Our auctions continue to grow in size and we now have global as well as national reach.

“Moving to online, live-streamed auctions has opened up our catalogue to buyers who would never have attended a one day physical auction in Birmingham.

“This has been one of the few positives to come out of the changes we have all had to make due to the coronavirus pandemic.”

She said they were already seeing strong demand for Bond Wolfe Auctions’ next auction, which once again starts at the earlier than usual time of 8.30am on Wednesday 31 March.

The auction will be livestreamed via Bond Wolfe Auctions’ website with remote bidding by proxy, telephone or internet only.

More details are at www.bondwolfeauctions.com, or email [email protected], or call 0121 312 1212.