Allsop is reporting a strong start to the year after its first residential property auction of 2017 raised £64m.

The 281-lot catalogue had a success rate of 80% with the average lot selling for £330,000.

The auction, at the Cumberland Hotel, saw one of the largest lots to be offered by the residential auction team – Stoner House in Crawley, West Sussex, a 43,700 sq ft office building in the town centre with permitted development rights  for 111 self-contained flats. This lot was sold prior to auction for substantially more than its guide price of £7m.

The most valuable lot to sell under the hammer was a four-bedroom penthouse on the ninth and tenth floor of Consort Rise House in Westminster, London. The vacant 2,442 sq ft apartment was knocked down on behalf of mortgagees for £2.1m.

Compared with last year, the numbers are actually down, with £74.8m raised from 283 lots in February 2016.

Richard Adamson, partner at Allsop, said: “The result at our auction last week was an incredibly positive sign that the residential market has bounced backed from the various geopolitical shocks of 2016 and some taxation changes.

“While the total raised at our first auction of 2016 was slightly higher, this was at a time when there was nowhere near as much political uncertainty or turbulence.

“When you take all of this into account, last week’s result is an incredibly strong statement of intent from buyers and shows the continued confidence in the residential property market and how resilient it has become.”