There was standing room only at Sutton Kersh's recent auction at the Hilton Hotel in Liverpool One.

The event took place on Wednesday 25^th May. High pre auction activity resulted in 13 properties from the catalogue of 63 being sold prior. A further 20 sold in the room and 7 more sales   completed afterwards. Total sales for the auction amounted to just over £2.3million with more deals expected to be brokered over coming weeks.

The best performing lots of the day were the Former Lambeth Hotel on Smith Street in Walton which sold for three times its guide price and a vacant residential property on Southport Road in Bootle that sold for £40,000 over guide price.

The former Lambeth Hotel made local headlines when it was torched in an act of vandalism back in 2008. The three-storey fire damaged property, highlighted as development opportunity, was guided at just £25,000+. Following a fierce war between an anonymous proxy bidder and a telephone bidder, the property eventually sold for £75,500.

165 Southport Road in Bootle, a 3-bedroom semi-detached vacant house, had previously been for sale on the high street for £74,950 prior to be auctioned. Guided at just £50-55,000 in the catalogue. a competitive bidding war in the room resulted in the property selling for £90,500 – over £40,000 above guide price and £15,000 over its high street value.

Wavertree Town Hall was also up for grabs. Offered as lot 2, the historic building sold in the room for its guide price of £100,000+.

Cathy Holt, auction manager at Sutton Kersh comments "We are pleased with the result. The auction was well attended and to sell twenty out of fifty properties in the room is a good result in current market conditions. Further sales are currently in negotiation and we hope to push over the 65% success mark. It is encouraging to see properties selling for well in excess of their guide price, especially investment properties, showing eagerness amongst investors to buy. I believe the majority of investors are still being very cautious and negotiating hard to secure cheap deals."