Bad news for estate agents: LSL property services says housing transactions likely to “remain suppressed” in coming months
Residential property services group LSL Property Services said this morning that it expects housing sales volumes to "remain suppressed" in the coming months.
The outlook from the company – which reported it interim results this morning – comes as new research was released showing that home ownership has fallen to a 30-year low.
Read more: Everything you need to know about the UK's housing market after the Brexit vote
LSL's share price was up 0.31 per cent at time of writing after the company announced group revenue was up eight per cent for the six months ending 30 June.
Profit before tax was up from £6.2m in 2015 to £8.4m – a jump of 35 per cent.
Simon Embley, LSL Property Services' chairman, said: "While we expect residential sales volumes to remain suppressed in the second half, trends in other parts of the business are expected to be more resilient.
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"Our lettings business continues to perform well, now representing 29 per cent of total estate agency income.
"Whilst these are uncertain times in the residential housing market, the group has strong fundamentals with a robust balance sheet and relatively low levels of gearing."
A construction group also took a gloomy view of the months to come; builders' merchant Travis Perkins said this morning that housing transaction numbers were "unlikely to be positive" after the Brexit vote.