Savills trading in line, says UK residential market picking up

FTSE 250 estate agent Savills said on Tuesday that it has traded in line with its expectations in the year to date, with UK trading "slightly" ahead as activity in the residential market starts to pick up.

In a statement ahead of its annual general meeting, the company said that globally, its transaction businesses have continued to maintain a strong market share although, as expected, there is a tendency for transactions to take longer to complete. Meanwhile, its consultancy and property management businesses have continued to perform well.

Trading in the UK was slightly ahead of its expectations, mostly thanks to strong performances in Central London commercial transactions and its property management business. Savills said UK commercial markets more generally are seeing greater uncertainty and a relative lack of stock which has reduced transaction levels. The residential market had a very quiet start to the year, but the group said activity levels have picked up since the middle of March.

In the US, Savills Studley has had a slower start to the year than initially expected, with the timing of transactions resulting in weaker volumes in New York and Washington. This offset stronger growth in other markets, notably California and New Jersey.

In Continental Europe, meanwhile, the company said it has traded marginally behind its expectations, again due to delays in transactions, with stronger-than-anticipated performances in Germany, Netherlands and Sweden, largely offsetting slower performances in France and Poland and the continuing start-up costs in the Czech Republic.

"Whilst we have started the year as expected, typically the first four months represent a disproportionately small element of the expected outturn for the full year. Consequently, at this stage in the year, we continue to anticipate overall performance to be in line with our expectations."

At 1320 BST, the shares were down 0.3% to 965p.