Auction House has brushed off Brexit and political uncertainties after raising a record amount in 2018.

The firm reported a 6.9% increase in sales during 2018, raising more than £455m – the highest in its 11-year history.

Roger Lake, founding director of Auction House, said: “This is a remarkable result for 2018, especially against such a challenging background, with political uncertainty a significant and ever-present factor.

“It’s good to add yet another step to our market share staircase – at a time when nearly every one of our competitors has seen volumes falling – and achieve incremental growth for the 11th year in succession.

“What’s more, there seems to have been a noticeable fall in the sector nationally, with figures suggesting that between December 2017 and November 2018 the market dropped by around 7%.

“If this trend continued into December, as seems likely, it means that Auction House would have delivered ahead of the market by a massive 14% over the course of the year.”

Lake added that many vendors are keen to sell this tax year and before Brexit at the end of March, which should boost demand.

Meanwhile, two former senior executives in the SDL Auctions group have left to run property consultancy Bond Wolfe’s new auction business.

Bond Wolfe Auctions will be based in newly refurbished offices on Colmore Row, Birmingham, with further offices in West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.

The team will be led by chief executive Gurpreet Bassi and managing director Ian Tudor who until recently were the heads of residential and commercial auctions respectively at the Bigwood auctions business which was acquired by SDL in 2016.

Bond Wolfe Auctions will be selling a wide variety of residential, commercial, mixed use properties and land throughout the UK in its first auction at Villa Park on March 13.

Tudor said: “With our ‘traditional values, modern solutions’ approach, we are delighted to be able to offer our clients, old and new, highly professional, focused and bespoke auction advice whatever their asset.

“Auctions have traditionally been seen as the preserve of largely residential property, but in recent years we have witnessed commercial property really making its presence felt in the auction room, and I am looking forward to helping businesses, corporate, public sector and private clients make the most of their real estate interests.

“We are confident that offering such a diverse range of properties both locally and nationally from such a central and accessible location will have a real appeal to both vendors and purchasers.”