The prime property market is notoriously competitive and requires the perfect combination of agent, buyer and vendor for a transaction to complete. For those ultra-high-net-worth individuals who want to branch out from the traditional route, there is the increasingly popular option to pursue a prime property auction.
While auction sales aren’t a surefire route to success, they offer several advantages: the process tends to be swifter, more transparent, and often reduces the likelihood of the buyer overpaying.
Meanwhile, from the vendors’ point of view, auctions offer concrete timelines and viable sellers, which can sometimes be difficult to find on the open market (although enlisting the expertise of a trusted property agent helps).
With property auctions experiencing a boom in activity and an increasingly online presence that boosts the possibility for global sales, the field looks set to be an area of growing interest for HNWs and property agents alike. Here are the best prime property auctions worldwide.
Concierge Auctions
Concierge Auctions are home to some of the most exclusive property sales. The renowned auction firm uses its unrivalled reach to provide properties in collaboration with local real estate brokers. This allows Concierge Auctions to offer ‘unique, one-of-a-kind luxury properties’ and connect UHNW clients across the world.
In 2024, Concierge Auctions will hold its ‘Exceptional Global Properties’ sales, showcasing some of the best prime properties with live auctions in New York, London, and Hong Kong, as part of ‘The Luxury Sales’ series with Sotheby’s, which also include high-end objects and art pieces such as wines, watches and handbags.
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Knight Frank Auctions
Knight Frank’s focus on the UK super-prime property market makes it a national leader in all types of property sales, from country houses to city townhouses and apartments. There are specialised teams to assist and support clients through every stage of the auction process, for both buyers and sellers, including an in-house mortgage team, local, regional and national property experts, auction sale experts and lawyers.
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Based in London, Knight Frank live-streams sales, allowing bidders to purchase online, by proxy or via phone. Auction sales typically take place once a month, while the house also has an ‘Online Buy It Now’ service with properties that can be bought at a fixed price throughout the year.
Paramount Realty USA
Paramount Realty USA is a widely recognised national real estate auction firm based in New York. The auctioneers’ philosophy is centred around ‘extensive and customised marketing’ and aims at creating urgency and generating ‘market price on a timely basis’. And according to the firm’s 800 luxury sales in just 15 years of activity, its strategy is effective
The auction house organises sales online, in-person and even ‘sealed-bid auctions’, where bidders submit written offers by a given deadline, usually for special and unique properties. Its impressive catalogue of properties includes everything from opulent ranches in New Mexico to waterfront houses in the Hamptons and penthouses in Manhattan.
Interluxe
Interluxe is an online-only prime property auction marketplace and promises time-effective transactions and reliable buyers. Founder Scott Kirk claims Interluxe is a platform for sellers to ‘promote their properties to a global audience using a defined, built-in and accelerated sales process to maximise urgency and yield timely results’.
The platform’s portfolio includes international prime properties ranging from villas in the British Virgin Islands to high-end estates in the Canadian mountains.
Christie’s International Real Estate
Best known as one of the world’s leading art auction houses, Christie’s offers prime property sales through its international real estate branch. The firm claims its sales achieve ‘stringent standards based on trust, discretion, and excellence, as demonstrated continued success in luxury property sales’.
[See also: Best country property specialists 2024]
Christie’s International Real Estate gallery is located in New York City with additional showrooms across the world. While there are no regular auction sales for prime properties, Christie’s Real Estate extends the visibility of on-sale houses to UHNW clients by promoting them at all Christie’s auction events throughout the year.
