Savills saw shares rise sharply on Thursday as the estate agency group published a positive trading statement that revealed solid year-on-year growth, in particular reflecting an improvement in transactional momentum during Q4 2025.
The Savills share price ended the day up almost almost 9% at 1,108p after the estate agency chain and property group said it expects improving sentiment and strong pipelines to support a recovery in 2026.
Savills said 2025 was characterised by a continuation of the market recovery seen in the final quarter of 2024 into Q1 2025, followed by a pause in Q2, which continued into Q3. During this period, both investors and occupiers digested the implications of, in particular, the imposition of US tariffs, alongside other unforeseen geopolitical and fiscal events.
In the UK, the group’s largest market, heightened uncertainty surrounding the delayed Autumn Budget had a similar subduing effect, particularly on the prime residential market.
Despite these factors, Savills says it built strong transactional pipelines across all its markets, ensuring they well-positioned as “clients’ confidence and appetite to complete transactions improved progressively through Q4, resulting in a strong finish to the year for the group”.
Savills added that its transactional business, which provides capital and leasing advisory services to commercial and residential owners and occupiers, performed well despite the challenging market conditions.
The group’s Less Transactional businesses, comprising Property and Facilities Management, Consultancy and Investment Management, also continued to perform well.
Savills said: “Property and facilities management performed in line with our expectations. We undertook further restructuring and investment in systems, in particular in Mainland China and Germany, which will help support future performance in those markets.
“In December, we acquired an initial 70% interest in Alpina Holdings Limited, a leading Mechanical and Electrical Engineering consultancy in Singapore. This, together with our existing Property and Facilities Management capabilities, enables Savills to provide a fully-integrated Facilities Management service in that market.
“Our portfolio of Consultancy services delivered a strong performance, with Valuations, Rural Consultancy, Building Consultancy and Project Management all making key contributions.
“Savills Investment Management delivered stable revenues, with profitability reflecting the benefit of restructuring initiatives outweighing the impact of lower performance fees. Towards the end of the year, we saw market demand for secure core income focused product start to improve and this, together with a strong performance from our European asset management teams, resulted in c. £2.3bn net new capital inflow during the year.”
The Group continued to review its cost base during the year and anticipates a restructuring charge of up to £30m for 2025 as a result of the restructuring initiatives referenced above.
The Group saw strong cash generation in the fourth quarter resulting in a net cash position as at 31 December 2025 in line with the prior year, despite the acquisition in Singapore and the effect of FX on translation.
Outlook
Looking ahead, while market uncertainty is expected to remain elevated in 2026, the board believes that strong pipelines and strengthening investor and occupier sentiment will support recovery across the company’s core transactional markets.
Savills continued: “We expect our Less Transactional business to continue to deliver steady and resilient growth.
“The group is focused on unlocking its full growth and profitability potential by both prioritising key markets and strategic opportunities, while also continuing to enhance operational efficiency across the business.
Savills’ full-year results are due on 12 March.