Commercial property auctions don't just survive uncertain times — they thrive in them

With investors fixated on domestic and geopolitical events and their potential impact on interest rates, it is easy to overlook the positives that exist in UK commercial property. Nowhere are these clearer than in the auction room, where most buyers pay cash and are not reliant on finance. What attracts investors, buyers and sellers alike, to auctions is the combination of certainty, speed, transparency and, ultimately, liquidity.

These qualities prove particularly pertinent when the macro-outlook is less certain than one might hope. When the direction of travel for interest rates is uncertain, lengthy sales and acquisitions processes can significantly erode returns through changes in the financing structure of deals. Auctions offer a higher degree of certainty in terms of a fixed date, a binding outcome and a clear price discovered in the open. This certainty is often very valuable for buyers and sellers looking to be active in what is otherwise a somewhat cautious market.

The government itself has recognised the importance of these principles, which underpin its newly proposed reforms to the home buying process. These reforms place significant new obligations on estate agents, aimed at speeding up transactions by requiring the provision of key property information at the point of listing through mandatory sales packs.

At our auctions, the early provision of a clear and comprehensive legal pack by the vendor’s solicitor has long been fundamental to the sales process and is often a decisive factor in whether a property successfully sells. The proposed reforms are also intended to raise standards, improve consumer confidence, and support more efficient transactions.

Commercial property auctions enjoy an ever-widening pool of increasing investor interest for both acquisitions and disposals as a result, which consistently adds renewed impetus into what is already a well-established market. To put the scale in context, we have already sold over £163 million of commercial property at auction this year alone across 216 lots and a broad spread of asset types.

Despite the established and growing role of auctions in the acquisition and disposal of commercial assets, a stubborn misconception persists that commercial auctions deal only in low-value or distressed property. Yet of the 531 commercial lots we sold in 2025, over 20% went for more than £1 million.

A second myth – that auction activity is purely domestic – is also outdated, with overseas investors accounting for a growing share of both buyers and sellers, many bidding online from across the globe. Over the past year, the overseas investor base has become notably more diverse, with a strong influx of Turkish buyers alongside continued South African capital and sustained interest from investors in Hong Kong, the USA, Singapore, the UAE and Cyprus.

Speed sits at the heart of the appeal. Contracts exchange when the hammer falls, and funds typically clear within four weeks, far quicker than private treaty sales, where protracted negotiations and costly finance can stall a deal for months. That pace is underpinned by the fact the auctioneer requires the seller to assemble a comprehensive information pack up front, allowing buyers to carry out due diligence swiftly rather than wading through the weeks of back-and-forth a private sale so often involves. The fixed timetable is also accretive, as both sides know exactly when the deal must complete, there is less room for the drift that routinely derails conventional negotiations. It is no wonder, then, that vendors increasingly run auctions alongside private sales as opposed to treating them as a last resort.

This speed and liquidity rest on extensive databases of active investors, a pool that, thanks to our long standing dedicated focus on commercial property auctions, now reaches well beyond national borders. Then there is also the added transparency offered by auctions. Live pricing guidance during the marketing helps each asset find its true market value, optimising the outcome for the seller.

Taken together, speed, transparency and a deep pool of cash buyers make the auction room a powerful place to buy and sell commercial assets, and arguably never more so than in these uncertain times.

This article was first published on 22nd June 2026 by CoStar. You can see the full the article here

Contact

Mark Gower is managing partner (commercial) at Allsop and in his role as commercial auction partner advises on all aspects of the commercial auction process.