Repossessions going on the block

AN AUCTION of 125 lots, including 50 properties repossessed by the Halifax Building Society, takes place in London tomorrow.

The Strettons auction at the New Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden also includes properties repossessed by Nationwide, Leeds Permanent, National Home Loans and Midland Bank. They are mainly in north and east London.

Graham Slyper, the auctioneer, said that after the interest rate rises on Wednesday he had been preparing to go back to vendors to ask them to consider lowering their reserve prices. 'Auctions are the best possible test of the market because the effect of any interest rate changes will be immediate,' he said.

Most buyers recently have been dealers and investors, but Mr Slyper expects the market to swing back to an even mix between dealers and owner-occupiers.

Stickley & Kent is holding an auction on 12 October at the Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington, with 265 lots from around the country.

Among the lots is a site by a lake in Stanmore, Middlesex, where Nelson used to visit. It has planning permission for a bungalow and is expected to fetch between pounds 85,000 and pounds 90,000.

Two one-bedroom flats in Plymouth are expected to go for around pounds 12,000 each, and a sea-front shop with a three-bedroom flat above it in Margate, Kent, for between pounds 14,000 and pounds 20,000.