Countrywide seeing first signs of housing recovery

1st Aug 2013 08:15

Countrywide, the property services firm which re-listed in London earlier this year, said it delivered its strongest first-half financial performance since 2007 and gave an upbeat outlook for the UK housing market.Total income increased 4.0% from £249.4m to £258.8m in the six months to June 30th, while underlying earnings jumped 35% from £19.6m to £26.4m.Countrywide exchanged on 27,366 house sales during the half, up 2.0% year-on-year, while the number of retail properties under management jumped 24% to 49,918.The results prompted the company to proposed an interim dividend of 2.0p per share"After several years of reporting on the difficult economic environment in the UK housing market, I am pleased to report that we are beginning to see the first signs of a recovery," said Chief Executive Officer Grenville Turner.He said that the government's housing initiatives have helped front-end activity, while mortgage availability has increased and mortgage pricing has reduced."All these factors provide positive environment for growth in our sector in the second half of this year and going into 2014," Turner said.BC