Leading independent chartered surveyors in Hampshire say the property market has successfully defied the political and economic turbulence of 2018.
Multi-disciplinary firm McAndrew Martin’s General Practice division has recorded an uplift in instructions for such services as surveys, expert witness reports and lease extensions during the year.
The 40-strong firm – based at the Acorn Business Centre in Portsmouth with offices in London – expects wider property sector transaction figures to have held steady for the end of the year too.
Director Ian Lee, who heads up McAndrew Martin’s General Practice department, said: “Although there has been some doom and gloom generated by Brexit, the property sector has remained resilient.
“HMRC figures for the residential property sector in the Autumn showed a rise in transactions and we expect this to have been sustained for the remaining months to the end of 2018.
“Competitive mortgage rates and Help to Buy have encouraged more first time buyers into the market, which has been reflected in our own increase in instructions during 2018.”
Ian, a former chairman of the Portsmouth Property Association (PPA), added: “I have been working in the area for more than 25 years and McAndrew Martin celebrates its 30th anniversary next.
“We have seen every peak and trough in the property market during this time, and there is every reason to upbeat about the sector.”
McAndrew Martin has recorded 10 per cent growth across its six disciplines in 2018, which are Architecture, Building Surveying, General Practice, Project Management and Contract Administration, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering and Structural Engineering.
The company was recently rated 87 – up ten places – in Building magazine’s influential Top 150 Consultants ratings of firms nationwide.
HMRC figures released in late November showed that non-adjusted residential property transactions were up in October by 14 per cent on the month before and by 4 per cent on the year before.
