How big is too big (he smirks)? For some auctioneers perhaps 50 properties in one auction is too much. For others, perhaps it is 150 properties. Some of the major players in the market have been circling around the 200-250 properties per auction for a number of years now (including pre-covid times).

Some auctioneers have been steadily increasing their market share and as a result we are starting to see larger than average catalogues from fairly established auctioneers. For instance, Clive Emson recently released its largest ever November catalogue, which breached the 150 lot resistance level.

Auction House London also saw its catalogue grow to its largest since it started trading, with a catalogue released this October reaching well over 250 lots (with a sizeable amount of late entries).
Of the big catalogue contenders for October, we had Barnard Marcus with a catalogue offering in excess of 350 properties. Not being wanting to disappoint, it has released a November catalogue with in excess of 450 properties on offer.

I cannot stress too highly the enormity of these numbers. To release a catalogue whilst you are setting up to sell in excess of 350 properties (using Barnard Marcus as the example here), you are simultaneously building a catalogue for the following month, which just happens to be one hundred additional properties.