Foxtons sales suffer in London property market downturn
Sales at estate agents Foxtons suffered in the first half of the year due to a downturn in the London property market.
The figures
Group revenue declined by 3.5 per cent to £51.1m and losses deepened from £2.5m in the first half of 2018 to £3.2m this year.
Revenue in Foxton’s letting business was flat at £31.7m, including one month without tenant fees after the payments were banned at the beginning of June.
Sales revenue plummeted 10 per cent to £15.4m. Foxtons will not pay a dividend for the half year.
Why it’s interesting
Foxton’s warned in May that sales volumes were at record lows as Brexit weakened consumer confidence.
Today the estate agent said political uncertainty continued to affect its financial performance.
Going forward the company said it expects market conditions to remain challenging.
What Foxtons said
“The prolonged downturn in the London sales market and continued political uncertainty continues to impact our results,” chief executive Nic Budden said.
He added: “Low consumer confidence combined with challenging market conditions means selling or finding a property is more challenging than ever before, and we believe this creates even more relevance for our high service sales model. In lettings, our professional approach mitigates legal risk for landlords and provides them with reliable tenants who trust us to provide the biggest range of high-quality rental accommodation.
“Looking ahead, we expect conditions to remain challenging and have effectively positioned the business to reflect this. In lettings, we expect our ongoing commitment to landlords in light of the tenant fee ban to improve further our proposition and we are confident this will continue to drive market share.
“In the longer term, our strong balance sheet and leading market position in London will allow us to capitalise on any recovery, in what remains one of the world’s most desirable cities and dynamic property markets.”