Savills this morning reported record results for last year, with revenue and profits both significantly up.

Thanks to what the firm described as its “broad spread of services across the globe”, revenue was up 19% to £1,283m and pre-tax profits up 16% to £121.4m.

But while there was record revenue in the UK, this was on the back of strong commercial markets, against weaker residential performance particularly in the prime central London market where Savills is a key player.

In the UK, income from Savills’ residential business declined 1% to £127.9m, driven by weaker resale volumes, although these were largely offset by stronger sales of development projects and a growth in rentals.

Sales in London went down by 4.5% last year, with a 15% reduction in Savills’ average sales value to £2.8m.

In the country market, both sales volumes and values, at an average of £1.1m, were unchanged year on year.

Profits from Savills UK residential business fell by 10% to £17.8m, down from £19.7m the year before.

Savills said that the UK’s prime residential market had been affected by fiscal changes in the 2014 Autumn Statement, which raised the Stamp Duty burden significantly on more expensive properties.

Despite a poorer performance in the capital, Savills opened three new offices in London last year.

The firm sounded a note of caution about further fiscal changes, saying: “The 2015 Autumn Statement heralded some significant further changes to the taxation of residential property in the UK, which take effect from April 2016. In the intervening period we have experienced a noticeable increase in transaction volumes.”