03/09/2026
The Auction Market Has Just Sent Us A Warning
Yesterday’s Venmore online auction in Liverpool contained 41 lots. Only 7 sold under the hammer.
A further 4 sold prior, 7 were postponed and 2 were withdrawn.
Strip out the properties that never reached the auction and the numbers are stark:
• 28 lots were actually offered
• 7 sold
• 21 failed to sell
• True auction day clearance: 25%
Even using the more favourable calculation, adding the four sold prior properties and excluding the postponed and withdrawn lots, the clearance rate was only 34.4%.
The recent North West auction market average was approximately 65.5%.
This wasn’t simply a quiet auction. It was a very weak result.
Auctions are one of the clearest measures of property market sentiment. There is nowhere to hide. A property either attracts competitive bidding and reaches its reserve, or it doesn’t.
The wider economic background matters.
The Bank of England Base Rate remains at 3.75%, but that figure doesn’t tell the whole story. The 10-year gilt yield reached 5.29% yesterday, its highest level since 2007, while the 30-year yield approached 5.9%, close to a three-decade high.
Those movements affect market funding costs and ultimately feed through into mortgages, bridging finance and investor returns.
Rightmove’s average two year fixed mortgage rate has risen from 4.95% to 5.09%. Average new asking prices fell by 2% in August, the largest August fall since 2018, and the number of homes for sale is at its highest level for this time of year since 2014.
Buyers therefore have more choice, more expensive finance and less reason to chase marginal deals.
Yet the auction result also tells us something else.
Every property that sold under the hammer achieved more than its guide price. Buyers are still there, and they will compete aggressively when they see genuine value.
What they will no longer do is bid on an unrealistic reserve.
For investors, the most interesting number isn’t the seven properties that sold. It is the 21 that didn’t.
Those vendors have now tested the open market and received their answer. Some will remain unrealistic. Others will become increasingly motivated.
That is where the opportunity begins.
The bond market is warning the Government that spending, borrowing and political promises have consequences. The auction market is warning vendors that pricing also has consequences.
Cash, certainty and the ability to move quickly are becoming increasingly valuable. The next deals may not be found in the auction itself. They may be found in the days and weeks afterwards.
We have a buyers' market and deals to be done.
The next Distressed Assets Workshop is Saturday 17th October 2026 in London and LIVE ONLINE - Further information can be found here:
https://www.distressedassets.co.uk/property-auction-courses
