“I don’t know what it is, but the big buyers are just not coming out of the shade,” auctioneer Eddie Winterstein said. “We offered some fantastic stock, but few people were putting up their hands.”

Paul Winterstein of Aucor said industrial properties were hard to sell. “There is a lot of it coming on the market. Retail lots are attracting active bidding, but buyers are looking for income producing investments. It’s not easy to move properties without tenants, as the buyer is saddled with holding costs.”

Nevertheless, a fully let shopping centre in Witbank fetched R113,5m, which Shannon Winterstein of Aucor said was one of the highest prices paid for a property on auction this year.

Another corporate disposal was three residential blocks with 34 flats in Witbank. The fully let complex was attracting a bid price of R7m.

The Buffelsbank alluvial diamond mine at Komaggas , Namaqualand was on the market after the dissolution of a partnership. On sale were the shares and mining rights which extend to December 2020. This lot attained a hammer price of R3m.

A residential property on Lynnwood Road Zwavelpoort, offering a total gross lettable area of 1300m² fetched R3,5m.

There was demand for a five-storey building in the Johannesburg city centre on the corner of Pritchard and Goud streets with a gross lettable area of 3200m² and urban development benefits. It fetched R2,5m.

Aucor’s first premises 43 years ago was just around the corner. “I paid a monthly rental of R150 for 90m² in those days. Rental today for similar premises in the same area would be about R4500 a month,” Eddie Winterstein said.

Two office blocks came under the hammer. In Germiston, a block with a gross lettable area of 1

Among the industrial lots on the vendor’s roll were a truck yard and mini factories on 6628m² in Randfontein (unsold); a factory with a gross lettable area of 4100m² in Brakpan (R6m); and a vehicle storage depot with a gross lettable area of 10000m² in Brakpan (R5m).

An art deco showroom and offices in Newtown, Johannesburg with a gross lettable area of 400m² fetched R1,1m.

Guest farms and lodges were on offer at Klein Paradys, Nylstroom on 110ha (R6m); and a three-star guest lodge with 24 rooms on Gill Street, Observatory Johannesburg (unsold), as well as the four-star Coeria Lodge with 20 en suite rooms in Heidelberg (R3m).