If you’ve been keeping an eye on the UK property market recently, you’ll know it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster. Now, the latest figures from the Skipton Group – the giant financial firm that owns Connells, the UK’s biggest estate agency – have put some hard numbers to that unpredictable feeling.
Looking at the headline figures, the group has taken a bit of a hit. Pre-tax profits for 2025 slumped to £275.2 million, a noticeable drop from the £318.6 million they raked in the year before. Bosses at the firm are blaming "external headwinds" and what they accurately describe as a "stop-start housing market."
But if you look under the hood, the actual day-to-day property business tells a completely different story.
While the wider group felt the pinch, Connells actually had a brilliant year. Against the odds, the agency grew its market share and managed to push through 86,000 property exchanges – up from 79,000 in 2024.
To put that scale into perspective: Connells handled roughly one in every ten home purchases and sales across the entire UK last year.
It’s not just buying and selling that’s keeping them busy, either. Demand for rentals continues to climb. The agency grew its lettings portfolio, managing over 128,000 properties, while the number of mortgages they arranged jumped by 9%. Even surveys and valuations saw a 7% bump.
All this activity on the high street meant Connells was able to hand over a hefty £55 million in dividends to the parent company, softening the blow of the wider profit slump.
Stuart Haire, the Skipton Group Chief Executive, remained upbeat about the financial side of things, noting that their mortgage and savings growth is actually beating the wider market. Their total group mortgage book has now smashed past the £33 billion mark, while savings have crossed £30 billion for the very first time.
So, what does this tell us? Even when the broader economy gets a bit shaky and the housing market stutters, the sheer volume of people still needing to move, rent, and remortgage is keeping the biggest players on the high street very busy indeed.
