Shares in Savills fell 4.8% yesterday after the firm warned that it expects to see declining transactions this year.

Savills, which operates globally, said it had experienced a “robust” final quarter of 2018, but said “performance of our less transactional business lines was key to this performance”.

It said that this had been achieved against a backdrop of heightened uncertainty, including Brexit.

The firm said in its trading update: “Prospects for 2019 are overshadowed by macro-economic and political uncertainties across the world.

“It is difficult accurately to predict the impact of these issues on corporate expansionary activity and investor demand for real estate.

“At this stage, we expect to see declines in transaction volumes in a number of markets, the impact of which, to Savills, should be largely mitigated by growth in our less transactional business lines; accordingly we currently anticipate that the group’s performance in 2019 should be broadly consistent year-on-year.”

Yesterday’s share price ended at 728p.

Meanwhile another momentous day faces Britain after last night’s heavy defeat, by 230 votes, in the Commons of Theresa May’s Brexit deal. Her government now faces a vote of no confidence which, if successful, could topple it and end May’s premiership. However, most commentators are predicting that the vote of no confidence is unlikely to succeed.