Auction House has recorded its strongest ever results for a first quarter in 14 years of operation.

A total of 826 properties were sold between January and March this year, from 1041 offered – a success rate of 79.35%, raising a total of just over £128m. The amount of money raised is 38.9% above the £92.5m raised in the first three months of 2020.

It was also the best-ever March for the group, with 371 lots sold from 459 offered – a success rate of 80.83% and a total raised of £63,667,201.

Newly appointed managing director Jeremy Prior said: “These are the sorts of figures which will really make our competitors sit up and take notice! Nobody out there is performing quite like we are and nobody else has the same number of lots going under the hammer. Auction House has turned into the F1 of property auctioneers – and the truth is, there’s plenty of mileage left in the tank!”

Prior has spent almost 40 years in the property industry – working as an estate agent in central London, owning lettings and property management company JSM Property Management, which he sold in 2011, and for the last 11 years as a director of the Auction House Group and chairman for the past two years. He took over as managing director after Roger Lake retired last month.

Prior continued: “This would be a superb set of figures in conventional times, but after having to deal with a global pandemic for the past twelve months, they are nothing less than exceptional.

“A year ago, who would have thought that a business which used to rely on holding room auctions at venues across the UK could continue to flourish through three national lockdowns and a ban on people gathering together? It’s incredible to see how our teams around the country have not only adapted to the new way of working, they have positively embraced it – with online auctions instantly gathering momentum and our livestream sales attracting record numbers of registered bidders well into four figures for many of our auctions.

“All of this bodes well for our new marketing approach, which is about to swing into operation, as well as other exciting ideas we have to take the business forward. We’ve made a substantial financial investment in a new digital platform which will launch in Q4 of this year and have hired a digital content creator to help ensure that we retain our position as the number one auctioneer in the country.”

Planning is currently underway for the Auction House National Annual Conference on 4 June – which will be held virtually via Zoom for the first time – as well as a brand uplift for later in the year.

Prior added: “This is an incredible time to be taking over as MD of the Auction House Group. Right now we are approaching partner agents and national suppliers of stock, as well as forging new contacts and relationships, to help us expand still further.”