LONDON (Alliance News) - Property services group Countrywide PLC on Wednesday said its housing sales transaction volumes are set to fall year-on-year after the expected uptick in activity following the UK General Election in May has not materialised.
Countrywide said it has traded well across its portfolio, but said housing transactions remain at lower levels year-on-year. For the third quarter to the end of September, total house exchanges fell 8.0% year-on-year and were down 10% for the nine months to the end of September.
The FTSE 250 company said that despite generally positive economic news in the UK, the anticipated rise in residential transactions following the General Election has not come about, constrained by a lack of stock and by the number of properties coming to market running significantly lower year-on-year.
As a result, Countrywide said it expects this slow pace of recovery to leave its volumes for 2015 down by at least 5.0%. In addition, it expects its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation will fall below the GBP121.1 million it made in 2014. For the nine months to the end of September, Ebitda is running behind year-on-year by around 11%.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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