Northern Ireland’s Osborne King raised £82m at the company’s first commercial auction this year setting a record total in the province

Around 500-people attended the auction last week where 35 lots were knocked down representing 60% of the total auction catalogue while 65% of the total anticipated sales value was achieved. This figure is expected to rise with further post-auction transactions.

Star lots of the sale, included the £5.9m paid for a 2.87 acre (1.16ha) residential land sale in Greenisland, Co Antrim, while the Ballymena Borough Council-owned 1.5 acre (0.6 ha) nursery premises at Market Road, Ballymena sold for £4.9m. In Belfast, the prized lot sold was a 0.24 acre site in Hope Street, with planning for a five-storey hotel, which went for £7.3m.

Other lots sold were a retail investment on Powis street, Woolich in London which was sold for £5.1m at a yield of 4.7%, a retail and office investment in Dover, Kent sold for £1.95m at a yield of 5.14%, and a restaurant in Kingston upon Hull sold for £1.45m at a net yield of 4.89%. Land or sites suitable for residential development accounted for 42% of the total lots up for auction

John Martin, Osborne King co-auctioneer, said: ‘The total value of sales achieved in this auction is twice what we achieved in last October’s auction.”

Osborne King’s next major public auction will take place on Friday 9 November 2007.

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