A Newport-based property auction business recorded its biggest sales figures in more than ten years at its latest online auction sale.

Paul Fosh Auctions sold property to the total value of more than £5.8m from a catalogue listing some 91 properties in a sale which was held totally online.

The firm, which moved its sales online in March due to the pandemic, says business continues to boom in its virtual sales world.

Paul Fosh said: "The September auction was a really great sale. The interest and resulting sales was quite astonishing. It really was fantastic. We had tremendous results for our vendors and buyers.

"It was simply the best auction for us in more than 10 years. The way forward for us now is undoubtedly online as the results just speak for themselves. I just can't see us going back to ballroom sales for the foreseeable future.

"The total value of sales at more than £5.8m is the biggest in terms of money for us in more than ten years. Vendors and buyers have adapted so well to online sales. It's brilliant for everyone involved.

"We had 1,163 people registered with 574 of those being actual bidders at the September sale.

"These figures are a clear sign that our buyers are invested in our online auctions. This is underlined by the enormous amounts of bids actually placed. The lots offered received a total of 2,620 bids online throughout the time the auction was running which equates to an average per lot of some 37 bids. These are fabulous stats.

"Over the 48-hour period of bidding our website received more than 115,000 hits from 62 different countries. This is a 27 per cent increase on what was already a record notched up in July."

Paul said: "I'm buzzing, and the entire team are just so pleased we were able to produce such a fantastic result for our vendors. It's working out really well and we just can't wait for the next auction."

Among the highlights of the September sale was a Georgian town house in the heart of Chepstow on the site of an hotel where Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson stayed in 1802, which was listed with a guide price of £160,000. It attracted 184 individual bids and eventually sold for £285,250.

The castellated remains of a former drill hall in Newport, which was destroyed in a fire in 2018, sold for £199,500 after being listed with a guide price of £160,000.

And two apartments and a town house in St Mary Street, Monmouth, attracted 30 bids before selling for £394,000.