Brexit fears prompt multi-million pound outflows from UK funds June 17, 2016 Rising Brexit fears prompted a huge outflow from UK equity funds in the week to Thursday. Data compiled by Bank of America shows that nervous investors withdrew $1.1bn (£769m) during this period, which marks the second largest outflows in the past decade behind last year's nail-biting General Election. Read more: No, Brexit won't hit house prices – [...]
Brexit isn’t a Woolworths moment for commercial property in the City September 28, 2016 In the days following the EU referendum, I found myself looking back to one of the seminal moments of 2008: images showing hundreds of Woolworths shops closing their doors for the final time. At that point, no other event seemed to better illustrate the effects of the global financial crisis on the UK high street. With hindsight, [...]
EU referendum: Here’s the “positive case” for staying in the EU, according to David Cameron May 27, 2016 When David Cameron set the date for the EU referendum back in February, he told the world you’d never catch him talking down Britain. A few months, some close opinion polls and a two slightly dodgy dossiers of Treasury analysis later, and that “positive case” for staying in the EU seems a distant memory. “Project Fear” [...]
UK ”punches above its weight” on regulation says City of London Corp June 6, 2016 The UK is able to “punch above its weight” in steering EU financial regulation according to research from the City of London Corporation. Following research based on interviews with policymakers, legislators, lobbyists and other key players, the City cited five pieces of European regulation, finding in each the UK had influenced rules. The City corporation added [...]
Britain needs a state-backed infrastructure blitz to restore confidence in the economy July 11, 2016 Within weeks or months, the UK will have its first “Brexit Budget”. While Westminster focuses slavishly on the question of who might deliver that Budget at the despatch box, it is the content that could shape our economy for decades – and determine whether the European transition we now face is a great success or [...]
UK house prices slow after stamp duty surcharge causes spike in March – but experts think they could accelerate again April 28, 2016 House price growth has slowed back to more normal levels in April, after the surge of activity in March caused by the introduction of the new stamp duty surcharge. UK house prices increased by 0.2 per cent in April, with annual house price growth slowing to 4.9 per cent from 5.7 per cent the month before. [...]
Why Brexit could spell trouble for Berkeley Group if foreign investors abandon London April 27, 2016 Berkeley Homes produces some of the most desirable goods in the UK. Building high-end houses and apartments chiefly in London, this well-managed company has delivered impressive profit margins and sustained growth. To explain this success, many would point to London’s chronic housing shortage. Annual demand is typically estimated at 50,000 homes by industry commentators. In [...]
Property Entrepreneurs: Meet the engineer behind Basestone whose innovative software idea is saving the construction industry time August 11, 2016 No one likes having their time wasted. And it was precisely that issue that led Alex Siljanovski to come up with the idea of Basestone, a collaborative tablet and web-based tool that is making building sites across the capital more efficient, from a single home extension to the new Crossrail stations. Basestone puts all the [...]
Britain’s bright Brexit future: A trader’s perspective June 22, 2016 I have been working in the City since I left school at the age of 15 in 1968, so I think it’s fair to say I know a bit about finance. As the founder and chief executive of CMC Markets, an online trading company with a market cap of approximately £800m which entered the FTSE [...]
It’ll take young Londoners more than a decade to save for one of David Cameron’s starter homes May 27, 2016 The government's new starter homes initiative has come in for a lot of flack – but this may be its most damning criticism yet. Yep: new figures by property services giant JLL show if the average young couple in the capital started saving now, they wouldn't get their hands on a starter home until 2028. That's more than [...]