Author archives: charlie

News in Review

“Our job is to get inflation down” At its meeting last week, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) narrowly voted to maintain Bank Rate at 5.25%, ending a run of 14 consecutive increases. Five members voted to keep the rate at 5.25%, while the four dissenting voices all favoured another 0.25% increase to […]

Residential Property Review – September 2023 

Economic uncertainty weighs on the residential market  The most recent UK Housing Market Update from Savills has highlighted that buyers’ budgets continue to be impacted by higher mortgage rates, and although inflation has begun to move lower, core inflation remains ‘unexpectedly sticky.’   During July, with completed sales reducing by 18% on the 2017-19 average, market […]

Commercial Property Review – September 2023

Private investors acquire £1.3bn of London office assets over 12 months  Knight Frank’s latest research report on the capital’s office market has highlighted that over the last year, family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals have purchased £1.3bn worth of London office assets.   Such high transaction volumes by wealthy private investors have been a by-product partly of […]

News in Review

“The broader picture looks more positive, with the economy growing across the services, production and construction sectors in the last three months” Latest official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimate that the UK economy contracted by 0.5% in July. The reduction was higher than the 0.2% decline which had been forecast by […]

News in Review

“India is going to be one of the most significant countries geopolitically over the next years and decades, and it’s vitally important for the UK to deepen our ties” The G20 summit concluded in Delhi on Sunday with a joint declaration that denounced using force for territorial gain but fell short of explicitly condemning Russia. […]

News in Review

“The fight against inflation is carrying a heavy cost in terms of heightened recession risks” Early S&P Global/CIPS UK Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) survey data for August has highlighted that weaker household spending and increasing interest rates contributed towards a decline in demand for both services and goods during the month. The key business survey, monitoring […]

Residential Property Review – August 2023 

Demand down but activity remains robust  The residential sales market experienced further negative indicators in July, according to the latest UK Residential Survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), with new buyer enquiries and agreed sales volumes continuing their decline.  At the national level, new buyer enquiries recorded a net balance of -45% […]

News in Review

“Inflation has fallen rapidly over the past six months” The latest inflation data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown that the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measured 6.8% in the 12 months to July 2023, down from 7.9% in June, the lowest rate since early 2022. Prime downward contributors during the month derived […]