PROPERTY giant Grainger is shrugging off the grim economic outlook to report 'resilient' trading.
Britain’s biggest landlord, which is based in Newcastle, had property sales in the pipeline of £62.4m in the four months to the end of January, compared to £57.3m a year earlier. The trading update also reported that rents jumped from £25m last year to £30.4m after acquisitions.
Chief executive Andrew Cunningham said: “We have started this financial year with strong sales, despite continued economic uncertainty.
“Sales of vacant UK properties during the first four months of the financial year have been achieved at prices 5.8% above our September 2011 valuations.
“We are also experiencing on-going rental growth and increased fee income generated through our property management activities.”
The company said the continued crisis in the Eurozone and related banking system issues meant the UK economy remained uncertain, which dragged down confidence in the residential sector. But it said house prices had generally been more resilient than expected.
