(Bloomberg) --
After missing out on much of the U.K.'s pandemic property boom, the luxury home market is showing signs of a comeback.
Selling some of the country's most expensive homes has proved to be a boon for broker Savills Plc this year, with the prime property market outstripping forecasts, according to a trading update on Tuesday.
“The continued strength of U.K. prime residential markets has exceeded our expectations,” Savills said in the statement. That, combined with a faster recovery in the commercial sector, signals that in this financial year “the U.K. business is likely to materially exceed both our earlier expectations for 2021 and the out turn for 2019.”
Savills shares rose as much as 2.4% in early trading in London.
Restrictions on global travel had limited the pool of wealthier home buyers in the U.K. during the pandemic, but an easing of the strictest lockdown measures have recently sparked a rebound in the market. House prices in London's toniest districts rose at the highest annual rate since 2015 last month at 1.2%, broker Knight Frank said last week.
An expected easing of U.K. prime property sales was now more likely to occur through 2022 instead of the second half of this year, Savills said.
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