Good day, and welcome to the Q3 2021 results conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Nadia Ben Salem-Nicolas. Please go ahead, ma'am.
Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everyone. Nadia Ben Salem-Nicolas speaking, Co-CEO in charge of finance. Thank you for joining us for Nexity nine-month revenues. I'm here with our CFO, Eric Lalechère, and our Investor Relations team, Géraldine Bobt and Thierry Cherel, for whom it is the last publication before Domitille Biel comes back next month from maternity leave. Thank you, Thierry. We'll go with Eric through the presentation together before taking your questions in a second step. Please note that to ensure everyone can read the performance on a sort of like for like basis, most of the metrics in the presentation will refer to the scope, excluding the activities disposed in the first half, Ægide-Domitys and Century 21. Let me start with slide three, which highlights the key figures and messages for the quarter that we will detail in a minute.
The main takeaway for me is that the third quarter is confirming the good recovery momentum that has been underway since the beginning of the year. All our key indicators on the left side of the chart are well-oriented. It is our third consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth, not only against the low base of 2020, but also against 2019, before COVID. Our new home reservations are back to growth in Q3, reaching at constant scope a value that is higher than the one recorded two years ago before COVID again. Demand continues to be structurally strong, both from institutional and individual investors. On the supply side, we are seeing for the first time, after many months of permit shortage, some signs of improvement. The rise of construction costs and scarcity of land are, of course, a challenge for everyone in the industry.
First, we're confident the overall impact on Nexity's bottom line at the end of the day will be fully absorbed, given the way we manage our business. Secondly, our solid financial capacity allow us to accelerate our selective land bank investments consistently with the active resumption of bids that we're currently seeing in the market. All in all, this is a strong set of numbers, encouraging sign for the future. Short-term, we are focusing our energy fully on delivering our target for the year that we are reiterating today, and working in parallel with my colleagues from the executive committee team on the updated strategic midterm roadmap. With this introduction in mind, let me now hand it over to Eric Lalechère to go through the details of the nine-month reviews.
Good afternoon, everyone. On slide four, revenues. Revenue for the nine months are up 26% compared to 2020. Q3 is one more quarter of growth after Q1 and Q2. Q3 is up 12% compared to Q3 2020. As I just said, we are talking here about the new scope. That is without the contribution of the activity sold in H1 2021, Century 21 and Ægide-Domitys, which are among EUR 200 million. With the disposed activities, revenues reached EUR 3.3 billion, up 20% compared to 2020. The growth in revenue was particularly driven by the increase in residential real estate activity, which was by almost EUR 600 million over the nine months.
Half of this increase was due to the base effect of the strict lockdown of Q2 2020, which has helped construction and recognition as a revenue, and half to the increase in reservation from previous years at a higher backlog at December 31, 2020. Revenue from service activities are also up sharply, +10% compared to nine months 2021, with increase in all business lines. The increase is around 20% from distribution activities, Monetivia with the interest of individual investors, and also Nexity@Work, which are taking advantage of the decrease in working at home and the change in office use to have more flexibility.
For the next quarter, revenues are expected to be lower than in Q4 2020, mainly due to the base effect of commercial real estate revenues, which will not benefit from major deals such as Eco-campus in La Garenne-Colombes, which represented revenues of EUR 400 million in Q4 2020. For residential real estate, forecasts for notarized deals and completion rates that are expected to be lower than last year given the portfolio of operations and economic conditions, especially with shortage in construction. However, we expect revenue for full year 2021 to be more than 20 on the new scope, at least EUR 4.4 billion.
Thank you, Eric. Let's now give some color on each of our three businesses, starting with the residential real estate on slide five, for which the good news of the quarter, again, is the encouraging signs regarding the refilling of our supply for sale. On the graph in the left part of the slide, you can see that the number of building permits for apartments granted on a national basis has continued to improve from the low point of March 2021 to reach 250,000 permits end of August, which is a level that is 7% higher than one year ago, even though still 6% behind the level of 2019. Nexity managed to outperform this, as you can see on the right, with numbers of granted permits not only up against last year, +28%, but also against 2019, +8%.
This has been made possible, as we discussed during our H1 results, only because we've been able to solicit and sign about 50%-70% more permits as we normally do. This will have positive effects on our supply for sale in the future, already visible as of end of September, with a supply for sale at 7,700 units, still behind the levels of 2019, but up 6% compared to end of June, which gives us confidence to deliver our target of around 20,000 new home reservations for the full year.
The bottleneck in permits is progressively easing as we are entering the second term of office for mayors, and we are observing actually an active resumption of bids, primarily around existing sites in city center to transform, to redevelop in the context of changing the urban and environmental expectations. Nexity is therefore intensifying its investments towards those land bank opportunities, which should lead our level of debt to reasonably increase to a level close to the one of 2017. Moving now to the demand on slide six. New home reservation reached 13,180 units, on track to deliver the 20,000 new reservation expected for the full year, as I said, while retail demand continues to be very strong, with demand from individual investors up 17% compared to nine months last year.
The bulk sales continued to grow as anticipated, up 10% over the quarter, driven primarily by social landlords. Bulk sales, so that you can see in purple in the graph, represent around 40% of the reservation year-to-date and should continue to accelerate in the rest of the year. We see this diversified and balanced multichannel client base as a key strategic strength for Nexity, contributing to the resilience of its model on top of its multi-product, multi-brand portfolio and its extensive national coverage. Now, moving to the prices in slide seven. Prices were on average flattish, slightly up 0.4% over the first nine months, but primarily as a result of the client mix rather than anything structural in the market. The reality is that selling prices are actually up for every client category.
On the retail side, so on the left, average prices are up 1% in France, driven by the regions outside Paris, +6%. On the bulk side, on the right, prices are up both for institutional investors, +7%, and social landlords, +4%. This was for selling prices. When it comes to cost prices, which is not covered in this slide, the rise of construction costs is a reality for everyone, as I said in my introduction. Keep in mind that the way we build our projects and contracts actually covers these inflation risks. Notably, our minimum margin requirement always integrates a buffer for every project for that purpose of risk management.
We can also say that we did not experience any major project halt today because of supply chain issue and we are not foreseeing any major extra delays versus our original schedule for projects. All in all, we have on one side, selling prices that are still up. We have cost prices that integrate cautious inflation risk management, meaning that we are pretty confident in our ability to deliver a sustained level of margin going forward. To conclude this part on slide 8, and as all the world leaders are gathering in Glasgow for the COP26 climate summit, let me say a word on the flagship Lyon Confluence project.
It's a large scale mixed-use urban project for which Nexity is proud to have been selected as the winner this quarter, developing for the first time in France a pioneer architecture called Essentiel, which is a real revolution for energy standard consumption as the building is designed to work without heating, without cooling, and using biosourced materials. I think a concrete way to highlight how we at Nexity are trying to lead the way to fight against global warming. Eric will now give some color on the commercial real estate and service activities before I conclude on the outlook.
Thank you, Nadia. On slide nine, on commercial real estate. The office market still has low volumes of activity marked by the COVID-19 crisis, but the recent trend is towards a recovery in activity. These markets are constructed by region, and particularly the regional markets have remained at levels above the 10-year average, unlike the Paris region. Nexity business potential is balanced between the region and the Paris region, which will enable the group to take advantage of this market trends, as well as investor expectation for new buildings with a smaller energy footprint. With EUR 355 million at the end of September, the EUR 400 million target has almost been reached. However, the group does not anticipate any significant order intake in the coming months. Slide ten, services. The service activities are well oriented in this period of end of health crisis.
In particular, the following points can be outlined. Property management for company, new mandates will support revenue growth next year. In student residence, the success of the marketing campaign for the 2021-2022 academic year has enabled the group to achieve an occupancy rate of close to 100% at the end of September. This rate reflects the good student demand for this type of accommodation. The high occupancy rate allows us to anticipate a good level of activity for the next twelve months. The occupancy rate for co-working activities has improved significantly to 79% from 69% at end of December 2020 and June 2021. This increase can be explained by a stronger demand from users for more flexibility in line with changing usage, and Nexity is particularly well-placed to take advantage of this trend.
This business will continue to grow strongly, thanks to the dedicated offer that the group is proposing with Nexity@Work, with new offers on the design and layout of workspaces. Lastly, the distribution business is benefiting from demand from individual investors who have additional savings after the slowdown in activity during the health crisis. I leave the floor for the conclusion of Nadia.
Thank you, Eric. In conclusion, sharp and crisp. We are happy with those solid numbers and achievements. They confirm a trajectory of recovery, good market fundamentals, and improved visibility. They are in line with our expectations, and they put us on good track to deliver our targets for the year that we are pleased to reconfirm today. Again, in terms of revenues, we expect EUR 4.4 billion revenues for the full year, implying, as you know, a revenue growth of around 10% versus 2019, with a Q4 lower than Q4 last year, for all the reasons that Eric elaborated previously. In terms of current operating profits, without underestimating the rise of construction costs, we are fundamentally confident to reach EUR 360 million, representing an operating margin above 8% back to our 2019 levels on the same scope.
Moving to the last slide, our global pipeline is worth five years of activity. Our backlog is worth three years, and it keeps growing. It's +1% versus end of last December. Again, without underestimating some challenges and uncertainties ahead, and notably around the economic context, the return to normal in the supply chain, the development of inflation and the upcoming elections in the country, we are fundamentally confident with this high visibility that we will continue to see revenue and profits growth ahead. With that, we can now open the floor to Q&A.
Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Again, that is star one to ask a question. Our first question comes from Emmanuel Parot with Gilbert Dupont.
Good evening, everyone. I had three questions. The first one was about selling prices. I was quite surprised about your retail selling prices, quite flat year-over-year. Are you expecting an increase in the quarters to come? It was my first question. The second one is considering the land. You want to boost the purchase of land. Can you share the amount of this of the purchase of land for this year? Maybe the last question. The confirmation of the full year guidance implied you are expecting a decrease of around 30% in Q4 for sales, if I'm correct.
I understand you are facing a negative base in effect in the commercial business, but it seems that assumption is very cautious. Am I correct? Thank you.
I can start with the two first one, and maybe we'll re-elaborate the third one, but I think the last one is about the magnitude of the decrease in Q4 sales. For the first one, when it comes to prices for retail, if I understand the question, you asked, as far as past sales price are concerned, we observed that the shortage of supply has led to an increase in prices that is lower than what we observed in the recent period, but still up, as I said, plus 1%, and clearly driven by the region outside Paris. It's plus 6%. Really showing the attractiveness of those regions in a post COVID world, I would say.
Going forward. For reasons of caution and to avoid speculating on the evolution of sales prices, we assume that they will remain stable. In the context of stable household incomes, sales prices are at a level that should level off, I would say. I don't know if you want to complete this answer, Eric.
No, I think it's okay. About our expectations for the fourth quarter, we still have many uncertainties to finish the year. You know that it's always the case at the end of the year to make all the revenue. This year was quite particular because we told you that we have an increase in delivering new permits, but it came late. After, it's difficult to make the reservation and to have the notary deed until the end of the year. That's why one part of our classic activity at the end of the year can be delayed to 2022. That's the exact consideration. But the main effect is clearly the biggest effect in the commercial real estate.
We have more than EUR 400 million. That was only a one-shot case in 2020 with a big other purchase of EUR 1 billion with La Garenne-Colombes. That explains the main difference.
Okay.
Once again, that is star one to ask a question. Our next question comes from Pierre Clouard with Kepler Cheuvreux.
Yes, good evening. Thank you for this presentation. I have two on my side. The first one is on the reservation that you're expecting in 2022. I'm sure that we are almost in November now. You should start thinking about your potential guidance for 2022. It would be nice to have more color on your view on potential reservation in 2022, taking into account the fact that yes, we will have elections in France, but also, given the fact that the building permits have rebounded and should continue to do so in months going forward. It would be nice to have more color on that.
The second one is on your strategic roadmap that you plan to present to investors in 2022. Can we expect anything major, or is it just a confirmation of your strategy and the strategy of the group and what you are doing at the moment?
About the level of reservation for 2022, I think it's quite a bit early to make some forecast about this guidance. We already told you that we have as for Nexity a good potential, so that enables to have a good basis to have a good performance to 2022. After, we have to be careful about external effects like inflation rates, solvency of the clients or even political effects. I think we have to wait a little to be more focused about what we can do. As for the fundamentals of Nexity, we really have a good nice potential.
With the level of permits and other instructions, we think that we can have good potential to make a nice performance. I think it's a little early to make a better figure about that, so that we can see about the economic condition will evolve.
When it comes to the strategic roadmap, it's in the making, I would say. The way we're managing the business today, clearly in continuity with, I would say, the essence, the DNA, the record of this company. You should not expect any big U-turn in the strategy. It's more, I would say, an update of how this company is transforming to capture and to capitalize on the changes that occurred after and during the COVID period. It's gonna be about how we continue to offer our clients an integrated real estate platform. Our employees a strong and meaningful culture, and to our shareholders, a performing and responsible investment proposition.
That's basically the essence. Continuity in the philosophy and the strategic direction, but acceleration of the transformation to capitalize on trends post-COVID.
Okay, thank you. We should not expect any acceleration, let's say, on the development outside France?
I can already give an answer to that. That's, for instance, probably not part of the strategic roadmap. As we consider that we, of course, internationally is important, and we have nice platforms here and there. But at this stage, we consider that our playground is in France, still has a lot of value potential. It's gonna be more the essence of this updated roadmap outside France.
Okay. That's clear. Thank you.
Once again, that is star one to ask a question. We'll pause for just a moment. It appears we have no further questions at this time.
Okay. I presume this means that this call is finished and concluded. Thanks a lot for your attendance, for your interest in our company. We're gonna meet some shareholders in the following days. Obviously, Géraldine and the IR team remain at your disposal to follow up after this call if there's any question you did not manage to raise during this call. Thanks a lot again. Bye-bye.
Once again, that does conclude today's conference. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.