There was an annual increase of 15.6 per cent in the number of residential lots sold at auction in January, according to the latest Essential Auction News from Essential Information Group.
There were 770 residential auction lots of on offer this January, an increase of 22 per cent compared to January 2008's 631 lots.
Of these, 526 were sold this year, a 15.6 per cent rise from last year's 455 lots sold.
In financial terms, however, the amount of money raised from residential lots sold was £50,867,050 in January 2009, a 3.3 per cent fall from last year's £52,618,849.
On a quarterly basis, the number of residential lots on offer in the three months between November 2008 and January 2009 was 10.2 per cent higher than in the same period last year.
The number of lots sold also recorded an annual increase of 17.1 per cent, although in financial terms there was a 15.5 per cent decline.
Regional Level
EI Group's report notes that because the overall number of lots being offered in January was relatively low, regional trends largely followed the pattern seen throughout the previous year.
In terms of residential lots sold over the quarter, the best regional performance was property autions in East Anglia which recorded an 81.3 per cent rise, from 64 to 116 lots sold.
The lowest result was seen in the South East Home Counties where there was a fall of 5.7 per cent, from 544 to 513 residential lots sold.
Northern Ireland recorded an increase of 600 per cent but this was due to just one residential lot having been sold between November 2007 and January 2008, compared to seven in the same period a year later.
Wales experienced a 33.7 per cent rise from 205 to 274 residential lots sold, while Scotland saw a 30.5 per cent increase, from 59 to 77.
