SVS Savills Plc

By Olga Cotaga and Art Patnaude

LONDON--Countrywide PLC on Thursday became the latest U.K. real-estate broker to warn its profits in 2016 will be lower than last year because of expectations that the housing market will cool after the U.K.'s vote to leave the European Union.

The U.K. housing market had cooled ahead of the vote, with buyers and sellers holding off on deals due to uncertainty.

The vote to leave the EU will prolong a period of uncertainty, which "will inevitably impact the level of transactional activity in the second half of the year," said Alison Platt, chief executive at Countrywide.

For property brokers, which rely on commissions from sales, the slowdown is expected to hit profits.

Countrywide's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciations and amortization or Ebitda will be lower than last year, Ms. Platt said. In 2015 Countrywide made an Ebitda loss of 7%.

Countrywide is the latest property broker to warn that Brexit will hinder profits, with LSL Property Services and Foxtons PLC having made similar warnings since the June 23 referendum.

The FTSE-250 estate agent reported a 25% drop in adjusted pre-tax profits in the first half of the year to 21.8 million pounds ($28.6 million).

While the housing slowdown started in the run-up to the referendum, since then it "has become more marked in London, the South East and expensive prime markets," Ms. Platt said. "The rest of the country has fared somewhat better and our lettings business and mortgage trends have been largely unaffected."

The company kept its interim dividend at 5 pence a share.

Countrywide's share price was up 9% at 270.30 pence at 1155 GMT. Peers such as Savills PLC and Foxtons Group PLC were also up. Nationwide housing data Thursday showed U.K. house prices rose 0.5% in July.

Write to Olga Cotaga at olga.cotaga@wsj.com, Twitter @OlgaCotaga and Art Patnaude at art.patnaude@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 28, 2016 08:33 ET (12:33 GMT)

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