Reserve price

A reserve price is the confidential minimum price a seller has agreed with the auctioneer to accept for a lot at a property auction. If bidding reaches the reserve, the auctioneer is obliged to sell to the highest bidder when the hammer falls. If it does not, the lot is withdrawn unsold and the auctioneer may negotiate with interested bidders after the sale. The reserve is never published, but it is set at or within a small margin above the guide price, which is why the guide is the only public clue to it.

For buyers

A lot marked "sold prior" was sold before the room by a bidder who met or exceeded the reserve. How to make that offer is in buying before auction. A lot that fails to reach reserve can often be bought after the auction, sometimes below the reserve once the seller has seen the room's view; make the offer through the auctioneer the same day, when the seller's expectations have just been reset. A "without reserve" lot, rare in residential auction, sells to the highest bidder whatever the figure.

For sellers 

Agree the reserve before the catalogue is printed, and set it at the figure below which you would rather keep the property than sell it, not at the figure you hope for. Too high a reserve produces an unsold lot and a public record of it; too low a reserve on a lot that attracts one bidder sells at the reserve. The auctioneer will advise, and its interest is in a sale, so weigh the advice accordingly. Vacant possession supports a higher reserve than a tenanted lot in most rooms, and everything a buyer needs to bid with confidence should be in the legal pack three weeks before the sale, because an incomplete pack costs bids.

From working with landlords who have sold at auction, the reserve that works is the one agreed after the auctioneer has reported the level of interest in the fortnight before the sale, not the one agreed on the day the property was entered. Whether to sell at auction at all, and tenanted or vacant, is in selling a rental property; which house to sell through is in the best property auction houses for landlords; the buyer's process is in buying property at auction.

Last reviewed: September 2026.