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Foxtons confident London property remains an attractive bet despite revenue dip

Upmarket estate agents Foxtons have announced a slight dip in their sales revenue for Q3 as activity in London’s property market continues to feel the squeeze under the spectre of Brexit.

The London-based firm said in a trading update released to the stock exchange today that its revenue from property sales came in at £12.2m, a fall from sales revenues of £18.5m in the same period in 2015.

Total group revenue for both the quarter (£37.5m) and the nine months to September (£106.3m) were also down in comparison to the same time last year as property sales slowed following the EU referendum.

The figures are unsurprising with a raft of figures in recent months hinting at a decline in activity across London’s property markets, even with the added incentive of a weaker pound enticing more international buyers.

On Monday figures analysed by London Central Portfolio (LCP) revealed that estate agents are struggling to shift even the capital’s most luxurious properties as sales in ‘super-prime’ properties at £5m or has collapsed following the June’s referendum.

However, Foxtons Chief Executive, Nic Budden, remains confident in the continued resilience of London’s property market and the firm remains on-track to open its 66th and 67th branches at the beginning of 2017.

He said: “The long term fundamentals of the London property market remain very attractive and represent a huge opportunity for growth with nearly £3bn in total sales and lettings commissions on 2015 volumes.”

Bucking the downward trend in sales, the estate agents actually saw an increase in its lettings revenue, despite ‘lower levels of tenant activity’, with a marginal increase to £22.8m up from £22.6m in Q3 of 2015.

“We have built Foxtons to withstand sales market cycles with our lettings revenue comprising over half the business,” added Budden. “We are pleased with the response we have seen to the strategic initiatives which we have implemented to grow our lettings business, and also the successful launch of the new MyFoxtons portal.”

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