Upmarket London house prices pushing past the £3 million mark and more-buoyant UK conditions today helped property agent Savills flag up profits towards the top end of management hopes.
The domestic strength has helped Savills overcome sluggish conditions in Hong Kong to produce better-than-expected trading since July.
In prime central London markets, transactions are up 12% year on year and the average value 6% higher at £3 million, driven primarily by owner-occupier demand in south-west London.
Savills has seen a pick-up in commercial business in central London as activity among investors and occupiers increases, but transaction volumes outside the capital have also accelerated. Savills is the agent on London offices including Hines’ Cannon Place, and Prestbury’s St Katharine Docks development.
Chief executive Jeremy Helsby said: “Given trading in the period to date, the improvements we have seen in a number of markets, and the quicker-than-expected pick-up in the UK regions, we currently anticipate that our overall underlying result for the year will be towards the upper end of our previous expectations.”
Numis analyst Chris Millington said: “In our view, this is a strong statement and the fact we are upgrading Savills’ estimates for 2014 and 2015, against the backdrop of reduced activity in Hong Kong, shows the defensive merit of the group’s geographic profile and wide service offering.”
