Modern method of auction: should I sell my house that way?

More homes are being sold this way than a year ago. On 18 August 2026, Property Industry Eye reported figures from the agency network Lomond showing house purchases through the modern method of auction up 14.5% year on year, with completions up 9.4%.

The appeal is speed. Conventional sales have been getting slower for two years, and an auction route with a fixed deadline looks like a way out of that.

What is the modern method of auction?

The modern method of auction is an online property auction held over a longer window than a traditional auction, usually around 30 days, with the sale completing to a fixed timetable afterwards. It is sometimes called conditional auction, because the winning bidder does not exchange contracts on the day the bidding ends.

That is the difference from a traditional auction. In a traditional auction the hammer falling is the exchange of contracts, and the buyer is legally committed there and then. Under the modern method the buyer instead pays a reservation fee and takes a fixed period to arrange their mortgage and exchange.

How does a modern method of auction sale actually work?

1. You agree a reserve price with the auction partner, usually through an estate agent who offers the service.
2. The property is listed with a starting bid and a guide price, and bidding runs online for roughly 30 days.
3. When bidding closes, the highest bidder above the reserve wins and immediately pays a non-refundable reservation fee.
4. The buyer then has a fixed period, commonly 28 days, to exchange contracts.
5. Completion follows, with the whole post-bidding period typically capped at 56 days.

The reservation fee is what holds that timetable together. It is money the buyer loses if they walk away, which is why the drop-out rate is lower than a normal sale.

Why are more homes selling this way in 2026?

Because the conventional route has become slow. Rightmove reported on 31 July 2026 that the average move in Great Britain now takes 216 days from listing to completion, the longest at that point in the year since its records began, with 154 of those days falling after a buyer has already been found.

Against that, Lomond put the average modern method of auction sale at 56 days to complete, compared with 98 days for other methods. Regional growth has been uneven: auction listings in Yorkshire rose 25% year on year in the first quarter of 2026, and completions in Manchester rose 13.6%.

A deadline that costs the buyer money if they miss it is a real form of certainty. It is also a cost, and somebody is always paying it.

What does it cost, and who actually pays?

A reservation fee is a payment the winning bidder makes to secure the property, separate from the purchase price and not deducted from it. According to the HomeOwners Alliance, it is typically at least 3% including VAT, or a minimum of £6,000 including VAT, whichever is higher.

On a home priced at £275,000 that is roughly £8,250, payable straight away. It cannot come out of the buyer's mortgage, so it has to be cash they already hold, and it counts towards their stamp duty calculation.

Fee sizes for a standard sale come from ValuQ's own guide to estate agent fees. The auction figures come from the HomeOwners Alliance and from Lomond's data reported on 18 August 2026.

If the seller pays nothing, where is the catch?

The catch is arithmetic. A buyer with £30,000 of savings who has to hand over £8,250 the moment they win has £8,250 less to put into the price of your house.

The HomeOwners Alliance is direct about this: the fee reduces a buyer's purchasing power. So a sale that is free to you at the point of listing can still show up in the price you achieve, and the honest way to judge it is to compare the likely final figure against what a standard sale would net you after commission.

What should I weigh up before agreeing to sell this way?

• Your reserve price, which is the floor below which you do not have to sell. Set it with more than one valuation behind you, not one.
• Whether your buyer pool needs a mortgage. Homes that lenders will not lend on suit auction well; ordinary family homes may simply reach a wider audience through a normal listing.
• The size of the reservation fee relative to your asking price, because that is money leaving the buyer's budget.
• Whether you are genuinely time-pressured. If a fixed 56-day completion solves a real problem for you, the trade-off may be worth it.
• What the same agent would forecast for a standard sale, so you are comparing two real numbers rather than one.

What are the risks for me as the seller?

• A buyer can still fail to complete. They lose their fee, but you lose the time and go back to market.
• Guide prices set low to attract bidding can anchor expectations below your home's value if the reserve is not set carefully.
• Not every buyer will engage with the format, so a home with broad mainstream appeal may see fewer bidders than it would viewers.
• The auction partner's terms are a contract. Read what happens if you withdraw, and what the tie-in is.

How should I decide?

Get more than one view of what your home is worth and what it would realistically achieve on the open market, then set the auction result against that. A route that is free to you is still worth measuring, because the number that matters is what lands in your account at the end.

ValuQ gives UK homeowners free, side-by-side property valuations from competing local estate agents, so you can see several opinions on price and strategy on one screen before you commit to any selling method. The decision, and the timing, stay yours.