According to the latest data from Essential Information Group, the number of lots sold in July auctions was down 13.3 per cent from a year ago, partly due to vendors holding back with 8.7 per cent fewer lots made available for sale.

Residential lots suffered more than commercial, with a 15.3 per cent year-on-year drop in homes changing hands, resulting in sales of £325.5m. Despite the fall, that was still the third-highest amount raised in July during the past 10 years — a period that includes the financial crisis and its aftermath, which auctioneers say brought the market to a virtual standstill. The total raised by all property auctions in July was £483m.

Gary Murphy, auctioneer at Allsop, says the group’s first auction after the EU referendum saw strong bidding from UK and overseas buyers on lots with the potential for residential conversion. “Buyers are keen to get on with business,” he says.

Savills raised £30.4m in last month's auction, down from £46m at the same event a year earlier, but achieved a success rate of 77 per cent, slightly above the national average for the past year.

“Brexit has brought some sense back into the market. There has got to be some levelling off, especially in London,” says Chris Coleman-Smith, who conducted the Savills auction.​