Yahoo Finance Tumbling house sales take their toll on the UK's two biggest estate agents
Tumbling house sales have pushed down revenues at the largest estate agencies in the UK.
Revenues at Countrywide fell 13pc to £162m in the first quarter of this year, down from £187m in the same period in 2016.
It came as LSL, the country's second-biggest estate agency, reported a 3.3pc fall in revenues for the same period, although it said that this was above the board's expectations.
LSL's revenues were propped up by a stronger surveying division, which made up much of the fall in the estate agency arm.
The sharp falls in revenue are exacerbated because last year there was a surge in transactions before April, as investors sought to purchase property before stamp duty rose on buy-to-let properties and second homes.
Such was the steep climb in transactions in March last year that in the first two months of 2017, LSL's revenues climbed 1.3pc year-on-year, but in the first three they went into negative territory.
Countrywide said that underlying performance in the last three months was "impacted by a continuation of the declining market trends" with a 29pc fall in house sales across the group.
Alison Platt, the chief executive, said: "The snap general election... is not expected to significantly alter the overall level of market transactions for 2017, and we still expect the market to be around 5pc below 2016 levels."
Anthony Codling, an analyst at Jefferies, said that Countrywide's statement "suggested that self help is mitigating the impact of a horrid second-hand housing market", with the company's move into a "hybrid" estate agent service to rival online-only services.
Countrywide's shares rose 1.7pc while LSL stock slipped by the same amount in thin afternoon trade.
