Real-estate agent M Winkworth has announced that it anticipates its pretax profit to align with market forecasts for 2023, despite a decline in completed sales across its network. The company projects a profit of £2.1 million ($2.7 million), slightly lower than the £2.5 million recorded the previous year.
Although rising interest rates dampened the U.K. property market, prices concluded the year with only a 5% drop from their peak in summer 2022. However, buyer hesitancy and legal delays in conveyancing caused network completed sales to decrease by approximately 19%.
Several previously agreed and contracted sales will be reported in 2024. Furthermore, with an improvement in activity during the final quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year, M Winkworth begins the new year with a more robust pipeline than it had at the close of 2022.
While rental property shortages led to an increase in network revenue of about 5% and partially offset slower sales completions, the company foresees slower growth in 2024 and rent increases gradually decelerating.
The board has declared a dividend of 3.0 pence per share for the fourth quarter, bringing the total dividend for the year to 11.7 pence per share, up from 11.0 pence in the previous year.