UK's biggest estate agent Countrywide sees shares plunge 12% as shortage of properties for sale hits profits
A shortage of properties coming up for sale is set to hamper full-year profits at Britain's biggest estate agent Countrywide , the firm warned today. In the nine months to September, Countrywide's operating profits fell 11 per cent on the same period last year, with full year profits set to drop below its 2014 total of £121.1million. Countrywide is one of the FTSE 250's biggest fallers today, with shares down 52.01p or 11.18 per cent to 412.99p . Other listed high end, estate agent firms also suffered, with Foxtons dropping 12.68p to 187.32p and Savills down 16.50p to 895.50p . According to Countrywide, the anticipated post-election recovery in residential transactions failed to materialise. Recent Land Registry data revealed property transactions to the end of July running 8 per cent below 2014 levels. Countrywide said: 'A key constraining factor in the current market is the availability of stock, with the number of properties coming to the market r...