Top estate agent puts out profit warning
Upmarket estate agent Savills issued a profits warning yesterday as increasing numbers of potential buyers were pulling out of property deals because of fears about the economy.
“There has been a total lack of confidence in residential and commercial customers across the world,” said group chief executive Jeremy Helsby.
“Buyers are putting their decisions on hold. This has led to a sharp reduction in transaction volumes.
“People just don’t know where the world will go and deals have stopped.”
Only demand for properties worth more £5million had remained strong.
“The people who are buying these super-prime properties are less rich than they were but they are still very rich.”
Helsby added that confidence would only return to other buyers when the markets bounced back and banks started lending to one another again.
Savills said it needed to become “lean and mean” in response and was aiming to make cost reductions of £20million by the end of the year.
Savills shares fell fp to 220p.