Agency Savills sees Scots’ boom

Estate agent Savills posted rising 2017 profits yesterday, up 13 per cent at £112.4 million, as Scotland “witnessed one of its strongest years ever”.

Revenues were up 11 per cent at £1.6 billion. Nick Penny, head of Savills Scotland, said Scottish residential and commercial property investment were robust last year.

Penny said the residential market north of the Border was the “strongest in a decade with an increase in both transactions and prices achieved”. Meanwhile, he said that “on the rural side of our business a lack of supply has ensured farmland values are upheld”.

He added: “On the commercial side of the business we have transacted some significant deals in the past year including the acquisition of No.3 Atlantic Quay, Glasgow for Legal & General and the sale of the House of Fraser department store on Buchanan Street, Glasgow on behalf of M&G.”

Savills gave warning that it expected the wider UK property market to cool down over the year ahead.

Jeremy Helsby, group chief executive, said: “We anticipate a tempering of the strong transaction volumes of recent times in some markets.” This comes against a “backdrop of heightened market uncertainty, geopolitical risks and rising interest rates”, he added. Despite this, Helsby said the group was keeping its guidance for 2018 unchanged “at this early stage of the year”.

It said it had put in a resilient 2017 performance in the UK amid “challenging” conditions in overseas markets like the US and Europe.

House price growth has been easing in recent months, with central London the worst hit. The sector has also been hit by a stamp duty hike in 2016 on buy-to-let properties and second homes.