Banbury farmland sold for 45 per cent above guide price at online auction

Published by

Giles Gwinnett

The parcel of farmland - picture contributed

Online auctions are no longer seen as a last resort, reckons property consultant Fisher German, whose FG Auctions have recently sold a parcel of farmland in Oxfordshire via this method.

The 23-acres of farmland, off the Southam Road in Mollington, near Banbury was sold for £376,035 after attracting 61 separate bids.

Tom Dennes, head of online auctions at the firm, said: "Once the auction began, it was clear that there were plenty of interested cash buyers who were willing to put good offers in to acquire it.

"After generating a lot of bids, it achieved far more than its £260,000 asking price, which was a brilliant result."

He added: "In cases like this where landowners have had parcels of land for a while that later need to be sold, it can often be prudent to consider an auction when the value of the land is difficult to estimate through private treaty.

"Buyers and vendors have told us they love the transparency of the dynamic online auction platform, with all offers visible and the certainty of a sale once the reserve price has been met."

The owner of the land, previously used as grazing pasture, was unsure about its value after being approached by several people interested in buying it off-market.

He contacted Fisher German’s Banbury office and was put in touch with Dennes, who recommended the auction route.

"Putting the asset up for auction is the truest test of its actual value, and you’ll know that the buyer who really wants that asset will be prepared to pay a little more for it," said Dennes.

"This was clearly the case for our client in Mollington, who did not know if the offers he was receiving were actually fair.

"As he also didn’t want to choose one buyer over another for fear of upsetting people, we suggested putting it up for online auction and letting potential buyers bid for it."

Fisher German said it would encourage any landowner unsure about the value of their land to contact then so it can advise on the best method to achieve the highest price.

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Giles Gwinnett

Giles Gwinnett is a writer at The Business Magazine. He has been a journalist for more than 20 years and covered a vast array of topics at a range of media settings - in print and online. After his NCTJ newspaper training, he became a reporter in Hampshire before moving to a news agency in Gloucestershire. In recent years, he has been covering the financial markets along with company news for an investor-focused web portal. His many interests include politics, energy and the environment. He lives in Dorset.