Any decision to move away from either livestream or online sales – which have been the only method of buying and selling at auction during the pandemic – will have to be carefully considered.

“Livestream sales have been spectacularly successful for us – even more so than we could ever have imagined. Not only have our success rates gone up, but we are seeing three to four times the number of people engaging with our auctions as we did when sales were held in the room, both in terms of registered bidders and others simply interested in watching and experiencing the excitement of the auction process.

“Many more younger people have become involved whilst the numbers of our regular customer-base have remained unchanged.”

Should we go back to the room we would take internet bidding with us adding to the options of telephone bidding, bidding by proxy and turning up in person.

Our analysis indicates that there has been a 10% increase in the engagement of 18–24-year-olds with its sales, and a 5% increase in the 25-34 age category during the pandemic, whilst the engagement by those aged over 65 has stayed exactly the same.

“We need to take care not to disrupt this new demographic won over the course of the Covid crisis.

“Livestream auctions have enabled us to attract bidders to sales from all over the world during the past 18 months – including successful bids from Hong Kong, America and Greece.

“We must remember that from the public’s perspective, there is still a reluctance to meet in large numbers unless absolutely necessary – particularly when bidders pre- pandemic often brought members of their family to the room, so might not want to expose them to what they perceive is a greater, and unnecessary risk.

“The power of video tours has been phenomenal, with many of our buyers bidding on the strength of the video alone.”

Since lock down our live streamed auctions have sold 323 properties from 339 offered – a success rate of 95%, raising £27.4 million.

They are now taking lots for their next auction on Thursday 21st October, which will be live streamed on their website.

If you would like a FREE auction appraisal, please contact the team. Suitable auction lots include residential or commercial properties (tenanted or vacant), development opportunities or land.

Tel: 01228 510552
Email: cumbria@auctionhouse.co.uk.
Web: Auction House Cumbria