This morning, Northern Ireland auction company Osborne King made light work of putting 22 assorted lots of property under the hammer in Belfast. Four lots failed to reach their maximum reserves meaning that 18 lots sold giving Osborne King a respectable 82% success rate. The catalogue for the auction is here. Osborne King’s own version of its results is here. Here are the results in the NWL format.
(Click to enlarge)
The maximum reserves for the 22 lots that were actually offered for sale today was GBP 1.59m (€1.9m). In the event 18 lots sold which had maximum of reserves of GBP 1.15m and realised GBP 1.24m, 8% more than the maximum reserves.
Lot 4, which had a maximum reserve of GBP 75,000 saw a bidding war between two agricultural-looking gentlemen and eventually topped out at GBP 131,000. It is understood that Lot 5 was bought by Northern Ireland developer Lesley Herbert, wife of Michael Herbert and the betting is that it is a Buy-to-Let investment. Lot 11 was a pub which went unsold when the maximum bid of GBP 167,000 failed to reach the reserve, the maximum reserve being GBP 170,000 – this is the third pub that has failed to sell at Osborne King’s two distressed auctions and reflects the weak state of the Northern Ireland pub sector. Lot 14 was withdrawn before the auction with a suspected title issue.
Overall, there was a smaller crowd at the auction this morning compared with the first Osborne King distressed auction on 29th September, 2011 – detailed here. There was keen interest in ready-to-live-in residential property, and the lots sold included two development sites, so that sector is not completely flatlining. There was very little interest in sub prime investment property in Belfast.
Allsop Space remains by far the biggest and most successful auctioning company on the island of Ireland, with nearly 100 lots sold at the last auction in November. It is interesting that in the Allsop Space auction, prices achieved were 28% above maximum reserves, considerably more than the 8% at the Osborne King auction this morning. Allsop Space achieved a 89% success rate at the auction (92% afterwards_
The next Osborne King auction is scheduled for 8th March, 2012 in Belfast.
NAMA Wine Lake 
Notable that as at the first auction, all the residential and land lots were sold. There’s still demand out there and OK seem to be getting the pricing right.
The Belfast Telegraph has published some background on a couple of the lots sold.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/250000-house-sold-for-third-of-the-price-16089363.html
Lot 12; 4.2 acres in Castlecaulfield, Co Tyrone, with planning permission for 38 units. At the peak it was valued at £1m, sold on Thursday for £100,000.
Lot 21; Modern 4 bedroom detached house (tenanted) in Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh. Previously valued at £250,000. Sold for £81,000.
Another Belfast Auction coming up in February 2012. This one by BTW Cairns estate agents.
Catalogue is online at : http://www.btwcairns.com/blog.aspx?dataid=747378
24 lots with a total maximum reserve of £1.89m. Ranging from a plot in Crumlin, Co Antrim for £5000 to 20 x flats (look like ex Housing Executive) in Greenisland, Co Antrim for £250,000.
Overall a mix of development opportunities and properties of interest to BTLers. Some nice properties in the student area of South Belfast.