Three vacant church buildings, including one which sold for nearly four times its guide price, helped drive sales of more than £5million at Mark Jenkinson's biggest auction of the year, last month.

The strong total sales of £5.48m at the auction included the former St Joseph's RC Church in Staveley, Chesterfield which was listed at £75,000 but sold for more than a quarter of a million pounds at £295,000.

Also in Chesterfield, the former St Hugh's of Lincoln RC Church and dwelling, a three-bedroom bungalow, in Newbold, sold for £655,000 while in Rotherham, St Peters Church in Thrybergh had a guide price of £75,000 but sold for £83,000.

Other popular properties included an office on Pitsmoor Road in Sheffield which was sold on behalf of Sheffield City Council and which went for more than double its guide after attracting ‘massive local interest’. The imposing Grade II listed building was on at £150,000 but sold for £364,000.

Also sold at the auction, held at The Platinum Suite, Sheffield United Football Club, was a detached bungalow in Crosspool in need of modernisation. Set in a plot of approximately 693 sq mt in Hagg Lane, the house sold for more than £100,000 over its guide – £370,000 against a guide of £250,000.

Elsewhere in Sheffield two semi-detached three-bedroom houses exceeded their guide prices by approximately a third, both topping sales of more than £100,000. A traditional house with a cul-de-sac plot on Hollinsend Avenue, Gleadless, in need of complete renovation sold for £121,000 despite a guide price of £80,000 - £90,000. Meanwhile a semi-detached house on Hurlfield Avenue with a guide price of £78,000 sold for £107,000.

Adrian Little, Head of the Auction Department, said: “Church properties always attract a lot of interest and that was certainly the case here in our biggest auction of the year so far.

“There was also massive local interest in the Grade II listed office building which drove its price to more than double the guide, while investments and modernisation projects all sold well.

“The market remains strong for modernisation opportunities and properties for investment – there is confidence in ‘bricks and mortar’ and a sense of normality and ‘business as usual’ despite the current political turmoil. “

This was our most successful auction to date this year with total sales of £5.48m altogether. Thirty nine of the 54 lots offered were sold and we expect to reach sales of up to £6m in the coming weeks.”