A trail was blazed when Victoria Mitchell had the idea to establish a residential research team back in 1989.

Q Why is Residential Research important?

A I joined Savills in 1967 but it was not until the mid 1970s that the ‘residential development’ market started to emerge. There were few ‘blocks of flats’ built but there were a number of conversions of large houses into flats in the central London areas (Knightsbridge, Kensington, Chelsea, Pimlico). By the mid 1980s this market was beginning to take off with developments such as Chelsea Harbour, Canary Wharf and Butlers Wharf all coming on line.

If you are showing potential buyers houses and flats to buy on a daily basis you soon learn what they are looking for in properties. It was then I realised there was a service Savills could expand into – advising developers on their product ensuring it matched buyers’ aspirations. But, I soon learned they would not take my ‘word’ for what they should be doing. They wanted hard facts based on proper market research.

Q Why did you start the department?

A Having done my day job, I would sit down in the evening and collate all this information myself. Finally, I realised a full time expert was needed. At that time, none of the major agencies produced Research on the residential market, so this was an opportunity for Savills to do a ‘first’. However, it did mean luring a commercial researcher into the residential market. We were incredibly lucky that Yolande grasped the opportunity, and with fervour.

Q What was your vision for Residential Research in 1989?

A My vision was that Savills Research should become the leading Research house on all aspects of the residential market, and not only the top end market places that Savills traditionally dealt in. It would become one of Savills most trusted and important USPs and if you wanted to know what was happening in any of the residential markets, potential clients first stop would be Savills.

Most importantly of all, I was determined the department would be completely independent and should write about these various markets the way they found them. They were not there to ‘talk up the market’ or keep quiet when they thought it was going to fall. The Research department would work with but never be answerable to the agency departments. For the department to be respected within and without Savills it had to prove without question it was saying what it thought and not what Savills might prefer it to think!

Q How does that match up with what the team has achieved over the past 25 years?

A The size and reach of the department is everything that I ever dreamed of. I am enormously proud of what the department has achieved, sometimes against quite intractable odds.

Taken from
25 Years of Savills Residential Research (1989 - 2014)