Savills has announced strong results, with group revenue up 15% and pre-tax profits up 27% in the first half of this year.

Revenues were £714.4m and profit £32.4m in the six months to the end of June.

However, the international group said that performances in Asia, Europe and the UK commercial market offset a 4% decline in UK residential revenue.

Residential transaction fee income slipped to £55m, with Savills saying that volumes in the prime residential market were lower in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year when higher volumes of property were traded in advance of April 2016’s increase in Stamp Duty on additional purchases.

Savills’ overall transactions were down 3% in London and 6% elsewhere.

However, higher house prices helped offset those declines.

The average value of London residential property sold by Savills in the first half of this year was £2.7m compared with £2.5m, and elsewhere was £1.1m, up from £1m.

Overall revenues in the UK stood at £274.2m, up 7% on the same period last year.

Underlying profits in the UK were £25.3m, up 2% – but dwarfed by the enormous 66% leap in underlying profits in the Asia Pacific region.

Savills described its performance overall as “great” and “resilient in the UK”.

It expects its full-year results to be in line with expectations.