Welsh estate agency Peter Alan has revealed a dip in profits, which was only prevented from falling further by its lettings business.

The company’s profit before tax last year was £2.1 million down from £2.4 million in 2022, and £3.3 million in 2021.

Insulated

Income from lettings helped “insulate” the profits from being any worse, the agency, which has 30 branches in South Wales, says.

Property exchanges were down 20%, but new lettings were up 17%, Peter Alan says.

And it also claims the business is well placed to withstand any future downturn in the property market.

Acquisition

The firm, which is owned by Connells Group, acquired David James Estate Agents earlier this year.

This acquisition saw David James lettings staff retained, and the business begin to trade as Peter Alan in Wales and a number of Countrywide brands in the South West.

The final quarter started to show some “green shoots.”

In a statement with its results Peter Alan says: “After four interest rate rises of 0.25% each in the first half of the year, which kept transaction levels subdued, activity began to slowly improve in the second half of the year.

“The final quarter started to show some “green shoots” as mortgage rates were starting to reduce, house prices had not materially declined as feared by economists, and the market had changed after the “race for space” following the pandemic in favour of buyers with more supply available.”