Mention an auction and many people would immediately think of repossessions, probate properties, major renovation projects and investors looking for a bargain.
That picture is changing.
Property auctions are becoming increasingly popular, and the numbers suggest this is much more than a passing trend. More properties are being offered through auction, more are being sold, and online bidding has opened the process to a much wider audience.
So, what is driving the auction revolution?
Perhaps the most obvious answer is speed.
Anyone who has bought or sold a property through the traditional process will know how frustrating the wait can become. An offer is accepted, then everyone waits for mortgages, searches, enquiries, surveys and the rest of the chain to fall into place.
Weeks can quickly become months.
Even worse, after all that waiting, the transaction can still collapse before exchange.
Auctions offer something rather different. There is a timetable, information is available earlier and there is a much clearer expectation that everyone involved needs to be ready.
That certainty is increasingly attractive.
Technology has also changed the auction room beyond recognition. You no longer necessarily need to stand in a crowded room waiting for the auctioneer's hammer to fall.
Online auctions mean buyers can bid from their kitchen table. Properties can be marketed nationally and potential buyers can take part from almost anywhere.
It has also helped change the type of property being sold.
Auctions are no longer simply for properties that nobody else wants. Family homes, investment properties, tenanted properties and perfectly conventional houses are increasingly appearing alongside the traditional renovation projects.
However, speed brings its own responsibilities.
If you are buying at auction, you cannot simply bid first and start asking questions afterwards.
The legal pack matters. Searches matter. Title information matters. Planning matters. Restrictions, leases and other issues affecting the property matter.
In many ways, auctions turn the traditional homebuying process on its head.
Instead of agreeing a price and then spending weeks discovering what you are actually buying, much more of that information needs to be available and considered before commitment.
That raises an interesting question for the wider property industry.
Could the growth of auctions actually teach us something about how ordinary property transactions should work?
Government has already been looking at how more information can be provided earlier in the homebuying process. Auction sales demonstrate what can happen when preparation takes place at the beginning rather than halfway through a transaction.
There are concerns too.
Not every buyer fully understands auction fees, reservation agreements, completion deadlines or exactly when they become financially committed. Moving faster is only an improvement if consumers understand what they are doing and have access to the right professional advice.
That is where this week's Property Quorum discussion should get interesting.
Gareth Wax, Hamish McLay and Silas J. Lees will be asking why auctions are growing, whether technology has finally brought them into the mainstream and what the traditional property market could learn from them.
We will also look at whether greater speed really means greater certainty, and whether buyers are being given enough information before the hammer falls.
Perhaps auctions are no longer the alternative way of selling property.
Perhaps they are giving us a glimpse of what the future property transaction could look like.
Join Gareth Wax, Hamish McLay and Silas J. Lees for Property Quorum, Thursday at 10am, live and available afterwards on Spilling The Proper-Tea.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SpillingTheProper-Tea
For property and content enquiries: