Engel & Völkers sees double-digit growth

Engel & Völkers sees double-digit growth in first half of 2013

The Engel & Völkers group is continuing on its course of record growth already embarked upon in the first months of the year.

Following the strongest first quarter in the company’s history, revenue growth in the second quarter of 2013 is at a double-digit percentage rate. In total, turnover from commission generated by the group with its licence partners operating in 37 countries on five continents rose by 18.8% to 123.9 million euros (period in the previous year: 104.3 million euros). Turnover is increasing particularly strongly in foreign markets where the group commission revenues have risen by a total of 30% to 46.5 million euros (previous year 35.8 million euros). Group commission revenues from the brokerage of commercial real estate also rose significantly by 27.4% to 28.3 million euros (previous year 22.3 million euros). With growth of 6.1% to 49.0 million euros (previous year 46.2 million euros), brokerage operations in residential property in Germany also achieved a new record result once again.

Internationally, Engel & Völkers underwent especially strong growth on the American continent and in Southern Europe. A clear recovery of the property market and the ongoing expansion of the company’s network with the opening of new residential property shops in the USA led by the licence partners in Florida to a growth in commission revenues of 50%, and of almost 90% in California. The rate of growth in South America was almost 70%. “The intensive efforts to expand our network outside of Europe are having a positive impact,” said Christian Völkers, CEO of Engel & Völkers AG. “We are seeing substantial opportunities for growth abroad, on the basis of the strengthening economic situation on the real estate market. The broadly-based formation of our network puts us in a good position to make extensive use of these opportunities.” 

Residential property shops in southern European countries also profited from a further recovery of the property markets. In addition, the new Metropolitan Market Centre in Barcelona recorded a very successful start, resulting in overall revenue growth of 65% in the first half-year of 2013 in Spain mainland. Revenues on Majorca also saw a considerable growth rate of 29%. The strong demand for capital investments continues to have a positive effect on the business division for commercial estate, although this potential cannot be fully utilised due to a lack of sufficient offerings on the market.

“In South Africa we have had similar success with an increase of 31% when compared to the same period in the previous financial year” says Craig Hutchison, CEO of Engel & Völkers Southern Africa. He further added that the activities are still at a high, even through the winter months, and expects it to increase even further in the latter half of the year when the country will experience a further increase in activities for the coming summer months. This will be assisted by the launch of the new Engel & Völkers Website and social media campaigns which will raise search engine optimisations and in turn increase the number of searching buyers through the Engel & Völkers network.

Danny Pringle, CEO  Engel & Völkers Winelands also confirmed that the local office in Paarl is busy with an aggressive expansion program. “As part of our strategy to offer comprehensive property services to the local market,  we opened our new rental division on July 1, 2013. We also employed several new staff members recently and will expand our network of professional agents over the next few months. ” says Pringle. He added that Engel & Völkers has now been active in the Paarl region for more than 2 ½ years and that the company managed to secure a better than expected marketshare during this time and expects to increase that position by the end of this year.

Engel & Völkers global is forecasting further strong growth over the remainder of the year, meaning that the company expects to close 2013 once again with record financial results.