UK's Countrywide forecasts fewer house deals this year

By Esha Vaish (Reuters) - Countrywide Plc , the UK's largest real estate agent by revenue, forecast a slight decline in housing deals this year as uncertainty around the UK budget and the Greek crisis holds back a housing market recovery. The owner of agencies such as Bairstow Eves and Hamptons International also reported a drop in core earnings for the first half of 2015 that was bigger than some analysts had expected. Countrywide's shares fell as much as 9 percent on Thursday, making the stock the biggest loser on the FTSE-250 index <.FTMC>. "While we're encouraged by what we see as growth coming back into the market, the real impact of that is likely to be felt in 2016," Chief Executive Alison Platt told Reuters. Countrywide's cautious view comes a day after London-focused rival Foxtons Group Plc struck a more optimistic tone, saying that low mortgage rates were driving a housing recovery. UK house prices and sales have risen sharply in the last two years, partly due to government measures that make it easier to get a mortgage. But the growth in sales volumes has slowed this year as a result of uncertainty in the UK market and Europe. Even after the decisive May 7 national election, worries over Greece's possible exit from the eurozone and uncertainty about the contents of the UK budget this month had constrained the volume of housing deals, Platt said. The UK government in its recent budget decided to abolish special tax breaks for residents who claim "non domiciled" status and reduce the tax relief on buy-to-let mortgages for higher rate taxpayers -- measures that could cool the market. Countrywide's pretax profit fell 22 percent to 28.9 million pounds ($45.1 million) in the six months ended June 30. Core earnings fell 9 percent to 41 million pounds. The company said it planned to make "significant incremental returns" to shareholders from 2017. Some analysts had expected it to start making payouts as soon as this year - expectations heightened by Foxtons' announcement on Tuesday that it would pay a special dividend. Countrywide's shares were down 6 percent at 520.5 pence at 1159 GMT. (Editing by Anupama Dwivedi and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)