Auction property firm IAM Sold generated an income of £10.6m for estate agents from 3,300 sales in the year to the end of October.

The firm reported turnover of £19m in the year, an 18% rise on the year before.

The business said it is now the UK’s leading auctioneer with over 65% market share.

Almost three quarters of lots sold through online auctions.

Managing director Jamie Cooke said: “We’re delighted to see year on year growth and in turn, substantial revenue paid to our agent partners as agents realise the benefits of offering auction to their clients.

“In a relatively tough sales environment, auction can be the best option for vendors, and it’s great for our partner agents to be able to give vendors the choice.

“We continue to evolve our service offering having introduced a number of key initiatives and technology advancements to support our partners this year which has helped them to grow their auction business. Our annual customer survey sent to all buyers and sellers saw an 87% recommend rating (450 responses), and an average of 9/10 in our annual service review by our partner agents (2,744 responses).”

This year, IAM Sold hopes to introduce faster payment for agents, to help their cash flows.

Cooke said the firm will also be concentrating on its strategy to help its agent partners further evolve their auction offer.”

IAM Sold, a leading specialist in the so-called modern method of auction, was founded in 2009 to provide agents with white-label auction services.

The HomeOwners Alliance last autumn launched an investigation into the modern method of auction, criticising it for lack of transparency, in particular over the non-refundable reservation fee payable by buyers.

However, IAM Sold said the fees charged by it and its partners were clearly flagged up, and that buyers were willing to pay a premium for speed and security to secure the property they want.

The firm also said that 65% of its instructions were new to the market, created by agents in its network.

The remaining 35% were made up of instructions after usual private treaty marketing had failed to get a sale, or the transaction had fallen through, or the seller had had a change of circumstance.