The estate agency business of LSL Property Services became loss making in the first half of the year as it was impacted by "extremely slow" house exchanges.
In results to the end of June, the Newcastle-based group said huge industry-wide conveyancing issues meant it missed out on £6m of profit thanks to a significant backlog in exchanges which it expects will continue for the rest of the year. LSL said its estate agency business - which includes brands such as Your Move and Reeds Rains - saw an operating loss of £1m, having posted profits of £12.5m in 2021.
Overall, group underlying operating profit fell 48% to £14.2m though LSL pointed to a bump in last year's results due to the stamp duty holiday and said profitability was ahead of pre-pandemic levels in 2019. The group has now revised down its full year expectations.
