The latest survey on pub prices from Fleurets shows that sales of "bottom end" freeholds, offloaded by major pubcos, are still driving the property market, while sales of freehold freehouses with accounts are still few and far between.
The national average sale prices for 2010 were:
Bottom end freehold: £193,198
Freehold freehouse: £430,620
Leasehold: £40,421
Have you bought or sold a pub in the past year? How did you find the experience? Was there much on the market that suited your needs and budget?
Nope, haven't sold a pub this year and very pleased about it too. The freehouse freehold national average must be a lot lower than it was a year or two ago. I wouldn't sell at the moment unless I absolutely had to. We're still profitable, thank God, and hope to remain so even with the Government raising VAT and no doubt set to raise duty too. It's a buyer's market, but there is an awful lot of dross out there. You really have to know what you are doing and be able to spot the potential in a venue that was underperforming.
Out of interest, what were the averages in previous years? Do you have them?
Hi thegeorge,
I do have the averages in previous years - they will also be appearing in this week's issue of Caterer (10 December). Sorry for not including them earlier, but there were rather a lot of them. The nation averages in previous years were as follows:
2009
Freehold freehouses: £556,163
Bottom end freehold: £206,446
Leaseholds: £48583
2008:
Freehold freehouses: £536,837
Bottom end freeholds: £290,440
Leaseholds: £82,222
Fleurets have provided plenty more numbers, but I'm afraid I can't reproduce them all here. It's also worth bearing in mind that these figures relate only to pubs sold be Fleurets, so if you compare with previous years you are comparing different transactions on different properties, so it is not going to be completely indicative of what is going on.