Property firm reports record June after pent-up demand delivers sales boost

Grantham-based estate agency Belvoir says revenue and profits for the first half of 2020 are set to “comfortably ahead” of last year – despite the enforced lockdown.

Pent-up demand for the firm’s services after its offices reopened on May 13 have seen group revenue in June lifted by 12% compared with 2019, with the lettings side of the business 17% ahead of pre-Covid levels. June was a record-breaking month for Belvoir’s Newton Fallowell estate agency network in terms of instructions and sales, and for its financial services division in terms of written income.

Dorian Gonsalves, CEO, said: “This strong Group performance once again demonstrates the incredible resilience of the franchise business model in the face of both changes within the sector and challenges affecting the wider economy.

“The Group has benefitted from the considerable momentum built up during 2019 and the start of 2020, during which time the property division had fully mitigated the impact of the June 2019 tenant fee ban through a combination of assisted acquisitions and income diversification, investing in the Lovelle network and growing our financial services division’s network of advisers by 35%.

“With a return to pre-Covid levels of activity or better since housing sector restrictions were lifted, and the positive impact of the stamp duty reductions still to take effect, we are confident that the Group is well positioned to capitalise on the current market upturn and to take advantage of the opportunities arising from more challenging economic conditions.”