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Agencies & People

In a nutshell: the property share price freefall

Year long decline not helped by last week's letting fees ban

Nigel Lewis

If the share price of the UK’s residential stockmarket-listed corporates are the bellwether of the industry’s future health then estate agents should be battening down the hatches.

lse-signInvestors in London’s stock exchange clearly think Brexit, the recent Stamp Duty increases and last week’s letting fees ban are going to make selling or renting homes harder and less profitable in the coming months. Share prices have dropped alarmingly.

Compared to a year ago when Brexit was still only a possibility, Countrywide’s share price is down by 52%, Foxtons by 37%, LSL Property Services by 33%, Belvoir Lettings by 15.7% and Savills by 13.9%.

Even the industry’s digital superstars, so beloved of the City in recent years, have taken substantial hits including Purplebricks (-31%) and Rightmove (-11%) although Zoopla, whose model has helped its share price grow since August, is only down by half a percent as is Belvoir Lettings.

Savills has also done better during the recent bloodbath which UBS analyst Heidi Richardson says is because the stockmarket knows only 9% of its sales come from selling homes in the UK.

Purplebricks survived the lettings fees ban much better than its more traditional competitors after rushing out a statement that the changes would not have any “meaningful impact on the business” and that it anticipated that it “can adapt the model swiftly and at minimal cost”.

This helped its share price last week, which only dropped by 2% compared to its high street counterparts, despite several of them announcing digital strategies or online-only acquisitions, This included Countrywide (-5.4%), LSL (-8.9%), Foxtons (-14%) and Belvoir Lettings (-20%).

November 28, 2016

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