Unprecedented demand leads to growth for estate agent

Estate agent and financial services group Belvoir has reported year-on-year growth in its trading update.

The property division, which contributes 77% of the group gross profit, achieved gross profit growth of 29%. Income from sales was up by 65%, which the company says is down do the stamp duty holiday and the market being its strongest since 2007.

In addition, income from lettings increased by 21% from 2020, due to the demand for rental properties in the UK as well as the acquisition of Nicholas Humphreys in March, a predominantly students lettings network.

The financial services division, which contributed 18% of the Group’s gross profit, continued its strong growth with gross profit up by 39%.

Net debt is down to £2.7m (31 December 2020: £3.7m) despite having deployed £4.0m of cash to acquire the Nicholas Humphreys network and £0.6m in July to acquire Nottingham Mortgage Services.

Dorian Gonsalves, the CEO of Belvoir said: “In 2021 we have seen our franchisees and mortgage advisers take advantage of an exceptionally strong sales market.

The sector undoubtedly benefitted hugely from the Government’s decision to extend the stamp duty holiday until September 2021, following which we have seen a predictable slowing in the number of new instructions as the market normalises.

We anticipate that given the ongoing pent-up demand from buyers, the market will return to more usual transaction levels in 2022. In the meantime, our current pipelines remain strong and support outperforming our end of year forecasts.

The Board is mindful that 2022 is likely to present further challenges for the wider economy, but we are confident in our business model of supporting entrepreneurial franchisees and mortgage advisers to achieve their business ambitions, and that our growth strategy of organic growth coupled with investment in profitable property franchise and mortgage networks will continue to prove successful and deliver long-term shareholder value.”