Good morning,
Property funds will have to accept low-ball offers on more than £1bn of assets as redemption requests mount.
Meanwhile, as the date of the autumn statement grows nearer, with the government briefing that there will be more spending cuts than tax hikes, speculation is mounting as to where the axe will fall.
But the victims are already piling up. Lazard has been given just five weeks to find a buyer for Britain’s only planned gigafactory, after the government pulled the plug on Britishvolt.
Industry experts in the North have warned that plans to scrap the Northern Powerhouse Rail will cause irreparable economic harm
Number 10 has said that Sizewell C(£), the planned nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast, will not be shelved, despite claims that the Treasury was looking to cut its funding.
But income inequality will widen between the richest and poorest regions of the UK to more than £34,000 per person by 2028, despite the levelling up agenda.
As Cop27 kicks off in Egypt, RICS has outlined a series of measures it wants from the UK government to help the real estate industry meet its net zero goals. Among others it asks for a mandated measurement of embodied carbon, maximum limits, changes to the EPC scheme to make it fit for purpose, and the establishment of a fund to enable retrofit projects.
Meanwhile, FTSE chairs, including Landsec’s Cressida Hogg, have warned that the relationship between institutional shareholders and Britain’s leading boards had deteriorated beyond repair. Shareholders meddle in details, don’t understand the businesses they invest in and secretly team up with activists, the chairs have claimed in a new report.
Marks & Spencer is now awaiting the planning inspector’s verdict on its Oxford Street scheme. The planning inquiry into the controversial redevelopment of its flagship concluded last week.
Cafe-bar operator Loungers is seeing the Brightside of roadside dining, buying three sites to following in the tyre tracks of the little chef.
Abrdn’s UK Commercial Property REIT has lost 7% of its value as its NAV fell by 10.1% in the last quarter.
Auditors to Clarks have warned that the 1,150 store shoe seller could cease to be a going concern.
As the football World Cup nears, The Guardian takes a look at just how much of Britain’s real estate is owned by Qatar’s ruling family. More than you might think, and in some places you might not imagine.
The government, meanwhile, has been urged to publish a review into “golden visas”, which has been languishing in a draw in Whitehall for five years, as research shows that £55bn of London’s real estate is owned by offshore companies.
Europa Capital has signed two office lettings totalling almost 14,400 sq ft at Fetter Yard, the firm’s refurbished grade-A office building in Farringdon, EC4.
Allsop raised £52m at its November commercial auction pushing its year-to-date total close to £500m.
And stamp duty receipts reached a record high last quarter, with £3.6bn handed over to the Treasury. But don’t expect the peak to last.
A quarter of homeowners fear they will lose their homes or default on payments, as the Liberal Democrats plan a £3bn mortgage protection fund.
And more than a third of the UK’s military housing is in need of repair, despite firms being awarded maintenance contracts worth £650m six months ago.
Meanwhile, EG Like Sunday Morning gets the lowdown on EG’s 18th Awards, and looks at just what it takes to pull together one of the biggest nights of the year.