Foxtons suffers shares fall despite major move outside heartlands

Foxtons has seen its shares fall despite announcing a major move outside its traditional London heartlands last week.

The agency’s shares dropped 8% in five days to 51.80p, and have also dipped more than 10% this month.

Significant step

Foxtons acquired Birmingham independent lettings agent FleetMilne for £3.2 million in a significant step outside the South East for the first time.

The initial price was £3.2 million, with a further £0.8 million deferred for 12 months and dependent on performance targets being met.

The London-based agency had been buying firms in the Capital’s commuter belt recently, but this represented the first acquisition outside its normal operating area.

Expand presence

Foxtons reported “acquisition-led revenue growth” in 2025 earlier this month, as it continued to expand its presence beyond London.

At the same time, it announced it had acquired Cauldwell Property Services, a leading independent agent in Milton Keynes.

Its unaudited year-end trading update for the 12 months to 31 December 2025 showed the group’s total revenue was c.£172 million, up c.5% on £163.9 million in 2024, while adjusted operating profit was c.£22 million (2024: £22.1 million).

Renewed pressure

Dan Coatsworth, Head of Markets at AJ Bell, told The Neg: “Foxtons is battling a perfect storm of unfavourable property market conditions, dwindling investor interest in smaller companies, and negative news flow.

“Foxtons’ earnings forecasts have been downgraded 12% by analysts over the past month, acting as a headwind for the share price,” he says.

“Foxtons can talk about the resilience of lettings income all it wants; there is no getting over the fact that it is still heavily exposed to the London sales market and that might explain why it is on a journey to diversify earnings geographically.”

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