Belvoir: Renter demand helps drive up revenue amid rocky period for UK housing market
Belvoir has reported a 10 per cent uptick in profit before tax to £4.4m in its half year results as it was bolstered by a series of acquisitions and rising demand for rent.
During the term, the listed property firm acquired BMA Bristol Ltd, a financial services business comprising of over 20 self-employed advisers for £1m, in a deal which was funded from existing cash reserves.
In August, the firm also snapped up MAB (South West) Ltd, a mortgage broker in Plymouth for £1m.
Despite the tough market conditions for the UK’s housing sector, Belvoir Group also reported a small three per cent increase in revenues to £15.9m up from £15.4m in the same period last year.
Some 58 per cent of the franchise’s revenue now stems from rents as customers avoid making purchases on homes due to a period of unusually high mortgage rates.
“The private rental sector continued to be impacted by a perfect storm of an undersupply of properties and strong demand from tenants,” Dorian Gonsalves, chief executive officer of Belvoir Group, said.
The company also said UK house sales transactions in the first half of the year were down 18 per cent when compared to the same period last year.
“With 58 per cent of their [franchisees] revenue derived from a strong recurring lettings market, our property franchisees have been able to offset the impact of the reduction in UK housing transactions,” Gonsalves, added.
“Meanwhile our financial advisers are mitigating the lower level of new purchase mortgages by servicing demand for remortgages and other related products from their substantial client banks,” she added.