The volatile stock market has marked Countrywide shares down – and Savills up.

Seemingly unsure about the housing sector, the market decided that Countrywide belonged somewhere close to critical care. The firm’s share price fell 25p on Friday, ending at 429p, down from 700p in spring of last year, after Barclays raised concerns about the housing market.

Barclays analyst Jon Bell downgraded the shares, saying that transaction volumes were falling amid nervousness about the outcome of the election.

By contrast, Savills shares enjoyed a good week after upgrading its profits forecast for 2014.

It said these were expected to be “well ahead” of previous expectations.

One reason was that the Stamp Duty Land Tax Reforms in early December brought forward a number of high-end transactions which had been expected to exchange in the first quarter of this year.

The shares rose 5% to 686p on the news, with analysts Numis now expecting pre-tax profits of £99m against previous estimates of £90m.

Yet, like Barclays, Savills also expressed concerns for this year, saying there was uncertainty over the general election.