(Reuters) – Global real estate company Savills expects the drive to get employees back to the office to help transaction volumes in 2025, it said on Thursday, after it posted better than expected annual profit.
Property market activity is already expected to be spurred this year, analysts say, as easing interest rates and looser credit conditions outweigh the increase in economic uncertainty linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.
“We expect re-financing driven activity and the trend towards corporates requiring greater office attendance for staff to continue to be positive for transaction volumes,” CEO Mark Ridley said in a statement.
The company said most of its markets were already in recovery and would be helped this year by expected reductions in the cost of capital.
Savills, which generates more than 60% of its revenue from non-transactional businesses, said revenue from consultancy and property management services grew by 8% and 5%, respectively, in 2024.
It did not give detail on the benefits it saw from a return to the office, although it said take-up in the London office market rose 2%.
It also cited demand from the generative AI and cloud computing sectors in its North America market despite “largely muted” leasing activity in the technology sector there. Real estate investment volumes across Asia Pacific jumped 15% to $168.1 billion after two years of contraction. China was an exception, where transaction volumes fell by 18%, the company said.
The London-based group’s underlying profit before tax rose 38% to 130.4 million pounds ($168.9 million) in 2024, compared with an average analysts’ estimate of 129.6 million pounds, according to data compiled by LSEG.
(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Barbara Lewis)
