Brexit to prolong uncertainty in London property market

London-based estate agency Foxtons Group said Britain's decision to leave the European Union was likely to prolong uncertainty in the property market, resulting in a drop in its full-year earnings.

The group said the run up to Thursday’s vote had already led to “significant uncertainty” across London residential markets.

“Whilst it is too early to accurately predict how the London property sales market will respond, the upturn we were expecting during the second half of this year is now unlikely to materialise,” the group said on Monday.

Foxtons said first-half group revenue was now expected to be slightly below the previous year, with a lower earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the region of 20 per cent, and full-year group revenue and adjusted earnings would be “significantly lower”.

Chief executive Nic Budden said: "Whilst we had a strong start to the year, we said in our first quarter update that we expected the first half to be challenging ahead of the EU referendum.

“Since then recent sales volumes have been slow as uncertainty and higher stamp duty has led many buyers and sellers to sit on their hands. The result of the referendum has increased uncertainty and is likely to mean that these trends continue for at least the remainder of the year.”

However, in the longer term Mr Budden said Foxtons remains confident of the “attractiveness of London property sales markets” and its strategy to focus on the outer London mid-market segment.

Agencies