Savills grows market share but warns Brexit will hit 2019 performance

Savills’ residential business grew market share last year in the UK despite what it calls “challenging conditions.”

In a trading statement to shareholders the agency- which is global and deals heavily in commercial real estate and consultancy as well as residential- says: “Our [UK] Residential business continued to perform well growing market share in challenging conditions and our less transactional Consultancy and Property Management businesses, in the UK and globally, performed in line with our expectations.”

The company’s UK commercial side “delivered a resilient performance in the Commercial Transaction businesses in an environment of relatively robust occupier demand and continued strong investment interest, particularly from the Asia Pacific region, albeit that the market volume of trade declined in comparison with 2017.”

But Savills warns that “Brexit, US trade policy and higher long term treasury yields, particularly in the benchmark US 10 year Treasury Bond” we’re having “a discernible impact on investor sentiment in a number of markets across the Globe.”

With transactions more vulnerable to this sentiment “the performance of our less transactional business lines was key” to what it calls “robust” performance in 2018.

The firm anticipates that underlying results for 2018 will be in line with expectations.

But it warns: “Prospects for 2019 are overshadowed by macro-economic and political uncertainties across the World. It is difficult accurately to predict the impact of these issues on corporate expansionary activity and investor demand for real estate. 

“At this stage, we expect to see declines in transaction volumes in a number of markets, the impact of which, to Savills, should be largely mitigated by growth in our less transactional business lines.”

Savills will report 2018 full year results on March 14.