Foxtons this morning reported that the market where it operates is “taking time to recover”. It said that it expects “any recovery of the property sales market to be slow due to low current sales of stock”.

It said that this is particularly the case in central London, where property transaction levels remain at historically low levels, due to strong price growth and Stamp Duty changes.

Despite this, in its trading update for the third quarter of this year, it reported turnover of £43.5m, up 8.8% on the same period last year.

It made £18.5m out of selling homes, up 12.8%, reflecting strong market share but also its expansion of its branch network.

Foxtons said its new homes business had done particularly well, and that residential lettings continued to grow, achieving revenue of £22.6m. However, a record number of tenants are extending their tenancies, meaning that new let volumes have been lower than expected.

For the nine months to the end of September, turnover was £114.5m, up 1.6% on the same period last year, and EBITDA (profits after costs) stood at £37m – corresponding to a profit margin of 32.3% – down slightly on the 34.8% margin achieved last year.

In the year to date, Foxtons has opened seven new branches, and said it plans to open between five and ten new branches each year.

Despite low inventory, Foxtons said it has entered the fourth quarter of the year with a £1bn sales pipeline, well above last year at the same point.

Meanwhile, Foxtons founder Jon Hunt has shown that he has not lost his Midas touch when it comes to property.

Accounts filed for Heven, parent of his property operation Ocubis, show turnover rose 21% last year to £23.9m with pre-tax profits of £3m, up from £1.6m the year before.

In 2007 Hunt sold Foxtons for £375m just before the market crash.

He then went on to expand Ocubis, originally set up by Hunt in 1995 as a luxury serviced-office business, expanding it into residential, retail and commercial markets.

Ocubis buys buildings in London and then revamps them to maximize their value.