Savills reports longer property deal completion times
The agency says war in the Middle East has made the market more cautious, but there is no rise in fall-throughs.
Savills is reporting delays to property transaction completion times, but no rise in fall-throughs so far this year.
In a trading update to the City ahead of yesterday’s AGM, the agency said there was “greater caution” due to the Middle East war.
However, this had not hit the business too hard, with a 1% increase in deals agreed in the first quarter, driven by a 13% jump in London.
We have seen greater caution among both buyers and sellers since the onset of the Middle East conflict.”
“In Savills Residential Transactional Advisory business, within our key UK market, after two strong opening months we have seen greater caution among both buyers and sellers since the onset of the Middle East conflict,” the agency reported.
“This has resulted in longer completion timeframes, although there has been no corresponding rise in fall-through rates.
“Transactions agreed in the first quarter increased 1% year-on-year driven by a 13% increase in the London market, offsetting reduced activity outside London.”
Core market
In March, Savills revealed group revenue rose 6.1% to £2.55billion last year, while underlying profit before tax increased 11% to £145.3million. Savills said growth was reported across all four business areas and all three regions globally.
UK residential transactional revenue fell 4% to £199.7million during the year, with underlying profit declining 9% to £18.1million.
However, the UK remained a core market for the business, accounting for around 40% of group revenue – while the UK residential agency operation makes up 68% of the company’s residential transactional revenues.
