Despite the well publicised woes of the general property market, Westcountry Property Auctions’ last two sales of 2008 were the best for over 15 months with the Redruth and Plymouth auction venues recording audience totals in excess of seven hundred people with over £5 million worth of sales resulting.

Chartered surveyor and principal auctioneer, Graham Barton, reported that the success of the two days was due in a large part to the recent drops in the base rate not, however, because of any downward effect on borrowing costs. “The reduction in the Base Rate may in due course bring about lower mortgage costs for the masses but it immediately had an effect on savings rates. Instead of investors getting between 6% and 7% for letting their money sit in a bank or building society account they are now faced with the very real prospect of not getting much over 3%. As a result lots of people were taking their money out of these now low yielding savings products and putting it into property, explained Graham.

Among the successful auction sales was number four Bickland Water Road, Falmouth (Lot 13). This ground floor apartment with potential for further development sold for almost 25% over the guide price of £65,000 to £75,000 prior to auction.

The successes of the December auctions brought the totals for 2008 to a stunning 452 lots offered by Westcountry Property Auctions. Sales were generated by virtue of the many thousands of people attending of circa £29 million – seven times more than the nearest competitor.

Graham Barton MRICS said: “A huge part of the success of Westcountry Property Auctions is down to the fact that its single and only purpose in life is the auctioning of residential and commercial property along with agricultural and amenity land. There are other firms that do it as a sideline but we are completely full time with nothing to distract us from concentrating entirely on making the most money for our clients.”

Westcountry Property Auctions close for entries in their first auctions of 2009 (March 4 and 5) on Friday, January 30. Anyone wishing to book a free, no obligation auction appraisal for their property or land with one of the dedicated team of auction appraisers – Graham Barton, Scott Gray or Wendy Alexander – can telephone 0870 2414 343.