A UCTIONEERS are celebrating and saying there is growing confidence in the market after their first sale of the year did almost £4.5 million of business.

Buyers were out in force at the Butters John Bee auction at the Moat House hotel in Festival Park on Monday evening which finished with £4,366,550 of properties being bought and 85 per cent of the lots entered sold.

Mike Hancock, Associate Director at BJB, says: "This was a tremendous sale and we were very pleased with the amount of business it generated.

"There were a lot of people there and they came prepared to bid.

"There is definitely money around and buyers are coming back into the market again.

"If people say that the housing market is in the doldrums they need to come to watch what's happening here.

"We hold these auctions every six weeks and although this sale has been very good, there are really strong levels of support at all of them and I fully expect to see the same at our March sale.''

There were a variety of properties, mainly residential but some commercial too, from North Staffordshire, South Cheshire and Shropshire.

Buyers came from around the country to take advantage of the cheaper house prices in this area.

One couple, Ian and Wendy Edmunds, of Lower Withington, Cheshire, paid £51,500 for an end terrace in Kinver Street, Smallthorne.

The couple have bought it as an investment.

But they had not viewed the property internally before bidding.

Wendy says: "We had a budget for doing some work if necessary but we looked through the window and it seemed to be all right and it has been tenanted.''

Another buyer, Richard Halfacre, from Rugby, paid £38,000 for a mid terrace in Salisbury Street, Tunstall.

He says: "I have been to one auction before but this is my first time as a buyer and I have come to North Staffordshire to buy a cheaper property.

"It is a better investment than sticking it in the bank.''

Ron Jeffries, of Longton Road, Stone, who runs a property company which buys care homes, succeeded with a bid of £249,500 for the former care home, Eardley House at Bradeley.

Ron says: "I have bought it with an open mind. We might renovate it to the modern standard or demolish it and rebuild, but certainly an auction is the best place to buy property. I paid a fair market price for it.''

Mike Hancock adds: "Bricks and mortar are still the best place to invest, in terms of returns and asset protection.

"Prices have fallen and become more affordable and more people are taking advantage of this as our sale proves.''