Millions of pounds of North-East property have changed hands in the biggest sale by a London auction house.

Allsops auctioned £171m of commercial property at its first sale after the summer break, last Wednesday and Thursday.

Last week's sale eclipsed the previous high for a London auction of £165m by Allsops in July last year.

The auction followed the Bank of England's raising of interest rates last August.

The market is factoring in another rise when the central bank's rate setting committee meets again next month. Auctioneer George Walker said: "[Buyers] had had a long term to think about it. The market heading into the auction was not very clear about borrowing rates. As auctioneers we were slightly nervous."

Mr Walker said the outlook for interest rates had failed to dent private investors, who were riding high as the stock market hit record levels.

He said: "Investors have done well out of property in the last few years. They see cash as boring and are saying, `Why put money in the bank at 4% when I can get 5% or more in property'?"

Mr Walker said the market for properties in the North had enjoyed one of its strongest auctions, with rental yields being pushed to levels typical of the market farther south.

He said: "People are looking more at the North-East to get better yields and are prepared to cast their net a little wider if they are finding London and the South-East is getting very competitive."

More than £7m of commercial property in the North-East has changed hands at auctions by Allsops and Jones Lang Lasalle in the past fortnight.

In all, nine mainly high street shops sold at the Allsops auction. They included properties in Sunderland, Stockton, South Shields, North Shields and Alnwick in Northumberland.

The largest property to sell was at 190-206 Roker Avenue, Sunderland, and let to Floors 2 Go, Tile it All (UK) Ltd, which changed hands for "substantially" more than its £2.4m guide price, Mr Walker said.

Initial rental yields - annual rent roll divided by its selling price - for the North-East properties were in the range of 4% to 6%.

Jones Lang Lasalle's sole North-East property offered at its October 12 auction, a high street shop in Sunderland let to JJB Sports, was sold before the auction. It had been offered at guide price of £1.5m to £1.6m. Mr Walker said investors were "eliminating risk" as a consideration in the prices now being paid for commercial property at auction.

He said: "People are buying on yields that are factoring in an expectation of further rental or capital growth.

"Four or five years ago, nobody would buy at yield equal to the borrowing rate, but people seem happy to buy and don't perceive the same risk as there has been in the past.

"Whether or not they are right to do that, I wouldn't like to say." The record Allsops clearance follows strong sales by Jones Lang Lasalle and Cushman & Wakefield in the past fortnight.

Jones Lang Lasalle's October 12 sale raised £111m with a clearance rate of 95% of the 120 properties put up for sale.

Cushman & Wakefield's London auction hit £75m last week with a clearance rate of 87% of the properties offered for sale.

Peter Cunliffe, joint head of auctions at Jones Lang LaSalle, said the outlook for the commercial property auction market for the rest of this year and next was very positive.

The next Allsops auction is in early December.