Former council children's home in Hockley sells for £860,000

A former children's home in Hockley owned by Birmingham City Council has sold for £860,000 at auction, more than three times its guide price.

The 0.4-acre site at 63 Clissold Street, which includes a detached two-storey building standing back from the road behind a front garden, with parking to the side, had a guide price of £250,000 or more.

It was one of the stand-out lots at Bond Wolfe's October auction, which raised £24,012,650, bringing the auction house's total for the year to £144 million after six sales.

Nine in ten lots sold

Of the 152 lots offered, 136 sold, a success rate of 90 per cent.

Other Birmingham properties to sell above their guide prices included a former funeral directors at 31 Gravelly Hill North in Erdington, which sold for £414,000 against a guide of £350,000, and a supermarket at 1133 Warwick Road in Acocks Green, let to Iceland Foods at £78,800 a year, which went for £758,000 against a guide of £550,000.

Gurpreet Bassi, chief executive of Bond Wolfe, said: "This was another outstanding result and a tribute to the team at Bond Wolfe who all worked so hard to ensure a great outcome. Whatever the budget brings, and we hope it will be positive for business, buyers and sellers can be sure there is always strong demand for land and properties offered in our regular auctions."

Council property sales

Birmingham City Council has been selling hundreds of buildings and plots of land as part of its recovery from its financial crisis, using the money to help balance its books. Before this month's sale, it had raised almost £5.63m from auctions so far this year, with its biggest month in September, when ten lots raised £2.95m.

Selling buildings it no longer needs also saves the council the cost of maintaining them, and can bring empty sites back into use.

The Clissold Street site sits on the edge of the Jewellery Quarter, an area where demand for land for new homes has been strong, which may help explain why bidding pushed the price so far above the guide.

How guide prices work

Guide prices at auction are an indication of where the seller expects bidding to start, rather than a valuation, and lots often sell well above them when several bidders are interested. Buyers at auction must usually pay a deposit on the day and complete the purchase within about 28 days, which tends to attract developers and investors with cash ready.

Bond Wolfe, which is based in the region, holds regular auctions through the year, and the next sale is due in December, when the council is also expected to put more of its property under the hammer.