Sales of top-end homes recover from Brexit hiatus, says Savills

HIGHER value properties in London have begun to sell again after the Brexit referendum almost brought the market to a halt, Savills has said.

The estate agency reported that sales of homes worth more than £20m had jumped 44pc this year as sellers began to lower their expectations on price.

Its residential transactions fell 7pc in London during the last six months, and 10pc elsewhere in the UK, although the average value of London property sold by the firm rose 16pc to £3.2m. Transaction values were 3pc higher year-onyear outside the capital.

Jeremy Helsby, chief executive, said the company had benefited in the resi- dential market from buyers seeking established agents to sell their homes, and what he described as “more realism” among vendors.

“It’s still difficult, but at the top end of the market we are definitely seeing a little bit more action,” he said.

A quieter start to the year in the UK’S commercial property market and spending on acquisitions has pushed profits at the company down 18pc overall in the first half.

Fee income from the company’s UK division dropped 14pc to £33.9m in the six months to the end of June, reflecting “greater uncertainty” and a “relative lack of stock” coming to the market, it said. Savills also blamed acquisition costs for a new Middle Eastern division for the dip in profits, although it benefited from strong growth in its continental Europe arm.

Its revenues rose 2pc to £727.8m, from £714.4m a year ago.

Despite uncertainty in the UK market, a weaker pound and higher yields have maintained overseas investor interest in British real estate.

London’s office market saw transactions worth £9bn in the first half, 71pc of which were to non-domestic investors, Savills said.

“Many of these investors, while they accept that occupational risk has increased due to Brexit, still see the UK as comparatively secure in a global context,” the company explained.

But it said that the political and economic turmoil created by Britain’s negotiations to leave the European Union made it difficult to predict market volumes for the rest of the year.

Mr Helsby said: “Continued growth in our less transactional businesses, significant overseas earnings and strong shares in many of our most important transactional markets position Savills well to weather fluctuations in markets and to capitalise on the opportunities which we expect to emerge.”

Shares closed almost 4pc lower at 829.5p.