A marina complex on the Essex coast at Brightlingsea sold for £6.6m as the Acuitus May auction raised £56m with the sale of 69 properties.

The auction brought the total volume of assets sold by Acuitus at its first three sales of the year to £170m which is an increase of 50% compared to the same period in 2015. It is also the sixth auction in a row where total sales of more than £50m have been achieved.

Richard Auterac commented: “There is little evidence that our buyers are being influenced by the EU Referendum. Indeed a close analysis of the individual sale results suggests a significant hardening of yields as buyers lock into a steadily improving secondary commercial property market against a background of low returns in the bond market, volatility in the equity market and attractive bank loans for property purchases”.

The sale demonstrated investor demand for a wide range of sectors and regional locations. The Ace Business Park in Birmingham - a 119,000 sq ft industrial investment – sold for £3.25m at a yield of 7% while an Odeon cinema investment in Canterbury sold for £2.79m at a yield of 6%. In London, the sale of two retail investments achieved yields of 3.8% and 4.8%.

Richard Auterac comments: “Investor confidence across the sectors and throughout the country continues to improve. At this auction we saw sales that encompassed locations in England, Scotland and Wales. This broadening of demand is being driven in part by the continued flow of new investors into our commercial property market. Sellers can capitalise on this market momentum as we head towards the summer”.