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International property services company Savills defied the property downturn on Tuesday with the announcement that it expects record results for 2007 as its business benefited from 'diversified activities and international presence'.

Although trading conditions particularly in the UK and US commercial investment markets have 'clearly' been challenging in the last few months, the services firm said that most areas of business have performed well and 2007 is expected to be 'slightly ahead of expectations'. This is in contrast with the announcement made by services firm DTZ in December that it expected full-year results to miss expectations.

In a statement, Savills described 2007 as a 'record year', and added that tenant demand for commercial property in the UK and across Europe has remained steady for most of the year. However, it admitted that trading volumes dropped somewhat in the second half of 2007. The prime UK residential markets remained more 'resilient' to the credit squeeze than lower-priced markets.

The company intends to continue to grow its mortgage broking business as it recently opened offices in Cardiff and Jersey and plans further openings for 2008. Although the credit squeeze has had an impact on the main residential mortgage broking division, Savills said that this has been partially offset by increased referrals from its residential agency business and improved performance in property insurance broking and commercial debt broking.

According to Savills the outlook for the UK and US commercial investment will 'inevitably' depend on how quickly confidence returns to financial markets. However, transactional businesses in Asia and Europe currently appear less affected by the credit squeeze.

Savills will make a full-year result announcement on 12 March 2008.