York Machinery Sales have experienced exceptional interest in their spring auctions, driven by a strong market for second-hand agricultural machinery with interest from around the world.
The success of these sales has been fuelled by the rising cost of new equipment, which has slowed new purchases and restricted supply. As a result, second-hand machinery sales have become an increasingly popular and a cost-effective alternative.
York Machinery Sales, held at York Auction Centre, is one of the country’s largest and most well renowned auction houses for agricultural tractors, trailers and machinery, attracts buyers from across the UK, Europe and beyond. With a six-figure database and some auctions surpassing one million views of the online catalogues, demand has been unprecedented this year.
In the first two sales of 2025, a total of 8,600 lots, equally split between the sales, were put forward achieving over a 90 per cent sell rate with 3,177 registered active bidders from the UK, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa competing for equipment.
Richard Tasker, partner at York Auction Centre, has more than 35 years’ experience in machinery sales and is the driving force behind the success.
He said: “We have seen phenomenal interest and excellent prices in the first quarter of 2025. With fewer trade-ins feeding the secondhand market and high prices for new equipment, demand for more affordable second hand options is increasing.
“The difference between the cost of new and second hand machinery is making upgrades more expensive pushing buyers toward quicker second hand alternatives.”
There are nine sales in the year, each attracting between 3,500 and 4,500 lots of tractors, loaders, trailers, agricultural and commercial machinery, livestock requisites, plant and equipment, building materials and produce. The sales are currently conducted by timed online auction with viewing and collection of every lot at York Auction Centre based just outside the City of York in Murton.
Richard, who has been joined by Will Amos, machinery sales manager, said: “The success of our sales so far this year is not just about the general marketplace and the drop in new sales, but is more a reflection on the specialist expertise we offer in delivery of a sale.
“Having the right marketing platform, ability to maximise the publicity, hit the right target audience, provide good service through every stage is important as well as offering the right infrastructure for loading, unloading and all the way through to export documentation and wash services.
“I have always maintained that the success of a sale and achieving optimum results is about getting it in front of the maximum number of people and giving them the maximum opportunity to bid.
“The York Machinery Sales timed online auctions does exactly that with a six figure database and proven numbers of views of the online catalogues reaching a staggering 1.4m for one of the sales and then a three- to five-day bidding period.”
As well as the two collective York Machinery Sales, there have been three farm sales held last quarter in conjunction with Stephensons Rural, which saw widespread interest and strong demand from across UK and Europe.
These include: A dispersal sale on behalf of J E Coning & Son, North Yorkshire at the end of February, attracted a record 1.4m views of the online catalogue. The sale held, following retirement, featured a strong selection of well-maintained modern equipment.
Also taking place at the end of February was an exceptional sale for MRC Greenmoor Ltd, West Yorkshire, which featured a line-up of eight modern JCB telehandlers and eight 2.4cu m buckets, attracting strong interest from across the UK, Republic of Ireland and Poland. All the items were owned from new and well maintained. The machinery was displayed on-site at York Auction Centre.
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