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TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

Foxtons' shock warning - sales at "record lows" thanks to Brexit

Foxtons has warned shareholders and the City that sales volumes are at a “record low” and that the agency suffered another fall in sales revenue in early 2019.

The full statement, ahead of the troubled agency’s Annual General Meeting today, was issued at 7am and reads:

"The Group's first quarter performance was in line with the Board's expectations. 

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Revenue in the sales business declined as conditions in the London property market remain very challenging. 

“Sales volumes continue to be at record low levels and ongoing Brexit uncertainty is impacting consumer confidence. 

“Revenue in the lettings business was marginally ahead of the prior year, continuing its progress following the initiatives implemented in 2018. 

“Group revenue for the first quarter of 2019 was £23.8m compared to £24.5m in the first quarter of last year. 

“This comprised sales revenue of £7.1m (2018: £8.2m), lettings revenue of £14.6m (2018: £14.3m), and Alexander Hall mortgage revenue of £2.0m (2018: £2.0m). There was no change to market conditions during April.

 “Foxtons remains in a strong financial position with a net cash balance as at 31 March 2019 of circa £15m (2018: circa £12m).”

On Friday Foxtons' share price closed at almost exactly 60p; five years ago it was riding high at just under 330p.

  • Proper Estate Agent

    Translated means "Thanks the the Tories handling of brexit", not brexit itself (but that wouldn't make a good headline) and our years of mega-billing tenants assisting with the gov's rash decision to ban tenant fees;. Now what do we do...

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    That's right, blame Brexit for your own inadequacies!

  • Sam Samuel

    Foxtons need to look closer to home. Inflating valuations, charging high sales fees, ridiculous tenant fees and definitely contributing to the reason why the industry is under attack from the left wing lobby groups.

    One year from now the make up of the estate agency industry will be very different.

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    • 20 May 2019 14:17 PM

    Yep Foxtons are a major cause of the approbrium that the PRS is suffering from all sides.
    Be good for the PRS as a whole if they went out of business.
    Foxtons have done the PRS no favours at all.
    Definitely the case that their greed has caused much consequential damage to the PRS as a whole.



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    Rubbish typical crap put out by a typical estate agent.
    We are selling to both private and investors and we are Only LLs, what do we know.

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    'Bollocks to blaming Brexit' would make a good car sticker on Foxtons vehicles eh?

  • Tony Sinclair

    Brexit this and Brexit that! Try Greed, Greed and more bloody Greed. Not just Foxton's either,

    The London Property Market, in general, has finally reached what has been predicted for many moons. It's finally reached the point of Peak Profit where it's outpriced itself and driving investors to look outside the London greed trap where they can buy a lot more property for their money.

    I wonder what a 9 Bedroom ex hotel in need of a little refurbishment near the promenade would cost in London? I would wager it would cost a lot more than my price of £100K.

    I'm based in the North West on the Fylde Coast Blackpool, Preston, Lytham St Annes, etc. I've been fielding an increasing amount of inquiries from Southern investors this year. Especially for the Blackpool area which is undergoing massive regeneration after years of decline.

    But alas and alack, most fall at the first hurdle because they do not have local knowledge. For instance, being a seaside resort, planning permissions for developers is not as straight forward as they originally thought unless they are familiar with restricted zones and so on.

    So riddle me this. Brexit has affected other UK industries besides the Property Market but things still tick over in the North instead of almost coming to a grinding halt as we see in London region.

    Maybe it's because a growing number of vendors are dropping their prices to suit the market and sell faster. After all, it's the public who drive prices up and down not estate agents. So if Foxton's want to keep denying public opinions and trends, then the future does not bode well for them either.

    The London property market may be a law unto itself, but times they are a changing and sooner or later it will have to fall in line with the rest of the country or deal with the consequences.

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