14th Nov 2013 09:58
LONDON (Alliance News) - Property-services company Savills PLC Thursday said both its commercial and residential arms have traded well since June, although transaction volumes in Hong Kong fell compared with the third quarter of 2012.
In an interim management statement for the period July 1 to date, Savills said investment activity remains buoyant in the prime central London market, with transaction volumes outside the capital accelerating.
However, as anticipated, prompted by the rise in stamp duty in the first quarter, Savills said there has been a significant reduction in activity in the commercial investment markets in Hong Kong, where market volumes in Q3 have declined by over 35% year-on-year.
As a result, the company said it was "cautious about the extent to which Hong Kong's market weakness will continue to be matched by relative out-performance elsewhere in the group through the final quarter".
By contrast the Hong Kong leasing business remained "relatively stable" despite the decline in average office rents in the central business district.
Savills said things had picked up at its US commercial arm, which is now benefiting from a restructuring in 2012. Revenue increased by approximately 18% compared with last year, largely as a result of a strong performance from cross-border and multifamily teams, it said.
The firm said its UK residential estate-agency business saw average transaction values climb 6% to GBP3 million, driven primarily by the owner-occupier demand in the south-west London region.
In the UK countryside market, the volume of transactions agreed increased 4% although Savills said activity is concentrated in the sub GBP2 million market, while residential development sales have continued to perform strongly.
Cordea Savills, the investment management arm, saw assets under management rise 17% to EUR4.8 billion.
Despite the company's Hong Kong troubles it remained optimistic.
"Given trading in the period to date, the improvements we have seen in a number of markets, and the quicker-than-expected pick up in the UK regions, we currently anticipate that our overall underlying result for the year will be towards the upper end of our previous expectations," it said.
The stock was trading at 642.00 pence Thursday morning, up 1.00 pence or 0.2%
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
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