Overall the group’s pre-tax profits fell by 64% to £55.4m, which Savills said was due to “challenging” property markets worldwide. 

Its full year results show that revenue from the UK residential part of its business stood at £171m at the end of December 2023, down from £208.3m the year before. 

This means underlying profit for this part of the business reduced by 45% to £19.4m. However this still representing an underlying profit margin of 11.4%. 

In the UK, Savills said this downturn reflected the decrease in market volumes due to successive interest rate rises dampening demand, and leading to fewer mortgage approvals. 

Second-hand sales revenues declined by 23%, with the number of exchanges down by the same percentage. In total Savills saw 4,735 second-hand transaction in 2023, down from 6,124 the year before.  

The issues of declining revenues was further exacerbated by the decrease in the average sales value of these transactions. The average transaction in 2023 stood at £1.61m, down 4% on the 2022 figure of £1.68m. In London the average lot size transacted by Savills was down 3% to £2.23m, and by 8% in the regions to £1.27m.

Revenue from the sale of news homes was also down, by 14% year on year, reflecting a decrease of 27% in the number of exchanges, most of which occurred in the regional market. Savills said that London remained more resilient, showing an 8% increase in the average value of new home transactions. 

While Savills saw transactions, revenue and profit reduce in the UK residential market, the group did see growth in some of the less transactional parts of its business. For example its property management business saw revenues increase by 11% and its consultancy business by 4%. 

Group chief executive Mark Ridley says that Savills remain “resilient” in the context of “extremely challenging real estate markets, which saw the lowest levels of transaction volumes for a decade”. 

He adds: “Current economic and geopolitical conditions remain uncertain and although we expect this to continue for some time, most markets appear to be past the moment of peak uncertainty.

“There are some early signs of underlying market improvements, which should set the course for a broader recovery during the second half of the year and into 2025.”

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Samra joins from NatWest, where she was a business development manager. Prior to this she worked as a mortgage business development manager for Prosperity Wealth, working with UK and overseas clients, and has also held roles at Barclays and The Royal Bank of Scotland. 

In her new role she will report into MPowered Mortgages sales director Matt Surridge. 

Surridge says the appointment was part of the company’s plans to expand its reach in the Midlands and improve the services it offers brokers in the region. 

He adds: “[Sumra’s] knowledge and extensive experience working with foreign nationals across global markets will be invaluable as we look to support foreign nationals fulfil their aspirations to be homeowners in the UK.”

MPowered has recently updated it criteria for foreign nationals which included increasing LTV to 90% for foreign nationals.

Surridge adds that MPowered remains committed to using technology, including AI to speed up the mortgage process for brokers using its mortgage original platform.

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Gould has worked for Openwork, Quilter and 2plan Wealth Management in a range range of business development and recruitment roles. Most recently he worked as adviser recruitment director at AFH Wealth Management.

In this new role we will be working to bring new member firms into the network and DA club, as well as supporting existing firms and working on new training requirements.  He will work with the account management team and report to Amanda Wilson, director of The Right Mortgage. 

Wilson says: “National Account Manager is a vitally-important position within the business. [Gould] brings a wealth of experience to this role and will be working on providing the necessary support to our existing AR and DA firms, and highlighting the strength of our proposition to other advisers and firms.”

Gould says he has worked in the network and distribution space for 20 of the 30 years he has worked in the financial services industry. “I have worked with many large- and medium-sized distributors and networks having built and grown the firms through recruitment and development.” He adds he is looking forward to the challenge of expanding the mortgage network as it moves towards 1,000 advisers. 

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The letter – jointly sent by StepChange, Money Advice Trust, Citizens Advice, and Christians Against Poverty, alongside the Law Centres Network – calls for the Secretary of State for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to “prioritise” reforms of the rental sector in this parliamentary session.

The charities are calling for a new ‘tenancy support programme’, which would mirror the Pre-Action Protocol that exists for social tenants in rent arrears. 

This would introduce reasonable steps private landlords must take to support tenants in financial difficulty to sustain tenancies wherever possible, including referring them to benefits advice and seeking to agree an affordable repayment plan for arrears. 

These steps would be supported by giving judges discretion to suspend eviction proceedings where these steps have not been taken.

The charities point out that the Renters (Reform) Bill as it stands gives landlords an automatic right to evict private tenants in two months or more of rent arrears, without offering any support or seeking to agree a repayment plan.

The charities point out that according to DLUHC figures rent arrears remain the most common reason tenancies are ended by landlords and estate agents, most often through section 21 notices. The letter points out that rather than offering more protection for those struggling to keep up with their rent, the Renters (Reform) Bill introduces an additional ‘repeat arrears’ ground.

The letter points to new research from StepChange shows private renters are twice as likely to be in problem debt as the average person, with more than half saying they have found it difficult to keep up with bills and credit commitment in recent months.

In addition it says that rising private rents are driving low financial resilience among private tenants, many of whom match the financial profile of social tenants but are unable to get social housing due to the limited supply of these properties. 

The charities claim there is strong public support for this approach with 72% of UK adults agreeing private landlords should be required to offer their tenants an affordable repayment plan before being allowed to pursue eviction. 

StepChange debt chart chief client officer Richard Lane says: “We’re currently experiencing a crisis of housing affordability which is leaving millions of private renters on the cusp of falling into problem debt simply because they do not have the income to cover exorbitant rents alongside rising essential costs.

“While a mortgage holder or social tenant has the security of knowing that their lender or housing provider will follow a process of engagement and support if they fall into a difficult spot with their finances, private renters are not afforded the same protections.”

Money Advice Trust runs the National Debtline. Its acting deputy chief executive Jane Tully adds: “Reform of the private rental sector is long overdue, and the government’s intention to deliver greater security for tenants is welcome. Proposals as they currently stand, however, do not get close to providing the protections needed for private renters.

“With rents rising and many household budgets at breaking point, it is only right that reasonable steps should be put in place to sustain tenancies.Changes to Ground 8A are needed now to reduce the threat of unnecessary evictions and to bring safeguards in this sector in-line with those granted to mortgage holders and social tenants.”

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Ian Miller-Hawes has rejoined the company as sales director and will be responsible for the overall management of the BDM team. Aspen has also hired Mike Allen as a business development manager.

Miller-Hawes was previously head of sales for Aspen, before leaving the business last year. Allen joins from Octane Capital, where he was the company’s internal BDM. He has also worked at Brightstar as a specialist broker. 

These appointments follow a raft of recent promotions aimed at driving growth at the specialist lender. This saw Wayne Hicklin takes the position of risk director while Saif Khalique has become head of underwriting.

Aspen Bridging managing director Jack Coombs says: “Recently we have made several key personnel decisions as we structure the business for £1bn in total lending, having recently hit the £500m mark.”

He adds that the revamped sales team should help the company deliver on these targets. 

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This change will apply to remortgage applications where borrowers are looking to raise additional capital, as well as both purchase and remortgage applications where there is an issue with the overall credit profile of the borrower, or level of credit score. 

The move comes after the lender lifted maximum working age using earned income to 75 from 70 years of age in July 2023.

Halifax says these changes were made as part of a regular review of its lending criteria. The company stress that it will continue to use a maximum working age of 75 for the majority of its customers and this change would not apply to product transfer of further advance applications. 

It advised intermediaries that if a term past 70 years of age is selected for an application that has this new maximum working age, a corrective action message will show at the DIP stage. 

Halifax Intermediaries stressed that while no further changes had been made customers need to consider the sustainability and plausibility of working to their anticipated retirement age. 

This change applies to applications starting from 18 March.

Evelyn Partners financial analyst Adrian Lowery says: “Having raised the limit to 75 only last summer, the lender is apparently reining back on lending that is now perceived as risky.   

“For many older borrowers, and particularly those approaching a loan application, this might feel like the goalposts are being shifted back to where they were before mortgage rates started ballooning.  

Lowery adds: “While many such borrowers will be confident that they can either shorten the loan at a later date, or continue repayments beyond 70 — either because they will keep working or have a good pension in place, or both — the Halifax would probably argue that they need to have responsible criteria in place.  

“There’s no doubt that as property prices remain very high and as we are very unlikely to return to the super-low mortgage rates enjoyed until a couple of years ago, many households will have to revise either their homebuying demands, their cash-flow expectations or possibly even the date and style of their retirement.” 

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In her new role, Windle will be responsible for building and maintaining relationships with intermediaries across the North of England, covering Cumbria and the North East. She will be reporting to David Castling, head of intermediary distribution at Atom bank.

Windle started her career at Northern Rock. She joined Atom bank in 2017, and until this latest promotion worked as a telephone BDM, supporting the regional BDM for London and the South East.

Castling says this promotion builds on Atom bank’s commitment to deliver excellent services levels, alongside good value products and cutting-edge technology. 

Windle says she is looking forward to meeting the broker firms across the North to understand how the bank can help support them and their clients.

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Its figures show a 1.1% increase in output in January, after three consecutive monthly falls. This increase reflects both an increase in new construction projects (up by 1.1%), as well as increased repair and maintenance activity (up 1.2%). 

The ONS figures show this increased activity was being driven primarily by construction for new private housing (up 2.6%) as well a non-housing repair and maintenance (up 1.9%). Overall in January six out of the nine construction sectors defined by the ONS saw increased activity in January. 

However, this increased activity over the month was not enough to turn around quarterly figures, which continue to trend downwards. 

The ONS data shows that construction output fell by 0.9% in the three months to January this year compared to the previous quarter. 

This decline was driven entirely by a fall in new projects, which were down by 4.5% over this three month period. In contrast there was a 4% increase in repair and maintenance work. 

The biggest drop was in new infrastructure projects, down by 9.3%, while new construction projects for private house fell by 5.2% over the three months to the end of January.

Commentators remain cautious about whether this uptick at the end of the quarter signals a more sustained return to growth. Although these three months figures remain negative, the decline is smaller than the previous quarterly update – when output fell by 1.3%. 

McBains managing director Clive Docwra says:  “After three consecutive months of falling output, the industry will welcome January’s return to growth.

“The 2.6% increase in private housing is particularly encouraging given the performance of this sector over the last few months. The hope is that if mortgage rates ease, it could lead to increased residential demand which in turn could trigger a bigger turnaround in housebuilding numbers.

“But whether the increase in January turns out to represent the green shoots of wider recovery or a blip remains to be seen.  

“Growth over the longer term is estimated to have decreased 0.9% in the three months to January 2024, highlighting that conditions remain unsettled for many industry sectors.”

Shawbrook MD of development finance Terry Woodley adds: “The latest ONS figures showing a decrease in construction activity in the three months to January are balanced by a welcome uptick in construction activity month on month.

“While falling inflation offers some relief, it may not have been enough to fully offset the headwinds the industry faces. This could delay the potential boost to housebuilding anticipated from softening mortgage rates.

“Similar to other sectors, commercial construction continues to grapple with supply chain disruptions and weather-related setbacks. Additionally, the lack of specific construction measures in the Spring Budget has further dampened confidence, which could hinder future activity.

“As we approach election season, it will be interesting to see if policymakers prioritise the construction sector and address issues like supply chains and skills shortages. Focusing on areas like brownfield development and sustainable building practices could also be key to a more resilient industry.”

Beard finance director Fraser Johns adds: “The sector as a whole has certainly started the year with greater confidence and a real sense of optimism, with an increase in new work in January contributing to a rise in construction output. It certainly mirrors what we’re seeing on the ground at Beard throughout the first quarter of the year, with our secured orders at a record high.

“A key factor is shifting sentiment around the future prospects of the market and the economy, with an improved outlook for both giving clients the necessary confidence to commit to new projects. Given the consistent trend of repair and maintenance, we are continuing to see clients taking stock of the assets they have and making any necessary improvements ahead of pure replacement.” However he adds that while conditions continue to improve there’s not question that challenges remain.

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Brightstar is holding a variety of activities, which will include a lunch sponsored and hosted by specialist lender Together.

Brightstar says the focus of these activities will be the promotion of diversity in leadership and decision-making processes, something the group says it has championed for a numberof years and now benefits from as a result.  

It points out that historically, women have faced barriers in financial services when seeking leadership and higher-paid roles. It says it has sought to address this through dedicated programmes such as ‘Women into Management’ and ‘New Adviser Programme. Brightstar says these have boosted diversity across the business and led to better decision-making and innovation, as well as greater gender parity.

Brightstar Group chief people officer Clare Jupp says: “The Group continues to place a huge emphasis on diversity and inclusion in its entirety and our observance of International Women’s Day is a key event in our ongoing commitment to this. 

“We are proud of what our women contribute and achieve across our Brightstar, Sirius and Solstar businesses, and it is easy for women joining the business to identify role models and find inspiration from the career journeys and achievements of our women.”

Elsewhere Finova is launching its first-ever Women’s Network — an initiative designed to recognise and amplify the contributions of its female workforce, and create a pathway towards leadership positions. 

This network will introduce mentorship programmes and facilitate workshops and training sessions to enhance skills, empower confidence and prepare women for career advancement and leadership roles within the organisation.

Finova says this network will also promote inclusive and safe spaces where women can connect, share experience and build a strong support system.

Meanwhile, lifetime mortgage lender Pure Retirement has sought to shine a spotlight on is female customer base, for IWD, to enhance broker understanding of this important demographic.

It points out that women now make up 64% of all singe life applicants. Its in-depth profiling revealed that almost half of these customer were widowed, 31% were divorced and 16$ were unamrried. Across this cohort the majority (56%) of these female customer opted for a lump sum plan, rather than drawdown. 

Around 27% of female single life applicants used released funds for home improvements in 2023, with 20% releasing equity to repay debts or mortgages, and 10% electing to gift to friends or family. 

Pure’s head of mortgage services Suzanne Latimer says this data highlighted the diverse range of female equity release applicants. “While there’s been considerable research around the retirement provision gulf among men and women, property remains a key tool at the disposal of women to access the life they want, and it’s good to see informed consumers electing to access that underlying wealth to achieve their financial goals in later life across a range of circumstances.”

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