Good morning. Here is your AM bulletin, with the latest news and views from EG, as well as a few of the best bits from the morning papers.
Apparently the biggest problem with business rates is that fact that a few people exploit a loophole for their empty buildings. That is the conclusion drawn by MPs, who want the ‘box-shifting’ loophole closed, potentially saving £250m a year. Out of more than £25bn raked in by the Treasury. Not the first part of the system that many would fix, but good to start somewhere, eh?
London is in the final stages of absorbing the capital value correction that started in Q2 2022, says BNP PRE, as data shows capital values are correcting faster than all but one of its European rivals. But this “rare entry point” won’t stay open for long.
Matt Moulding’s efforts to sell THG’s £200m HQ have collapsed. ICG Real Estate was in talks to buy the Icon Business Park in Manchester, but has now walked away.
The UK economy is heading for a marked slowdown in growth in the second half of the year, says KPMG, falling from 0.4% to 0.3%.
But the prime minister is looking at scrapping inheritance tax. Speculation is mounting that an announcement could be made at next week’s Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.
Which is a brave place for the PM to go, as speculation also mounts that he is set to scrap the HS2 leg between Manchester and Birmingham. Business leaders have said this is a terrible idea.
Meanwhile, Tory grandees Lord Heseltine and George Osborne have penned a piece for The Times(£) to say why scrapping the HS2 line to Manchester would be “a gross act of vandalism” and “economic self-harm”. “How could you ever again claim to be levelling up when you cancel the biggest levelling-up project in the country?”
Former levelling up minister Dehenna Davison also writes in The Times (£) about how migraines forced her to give up the role.
And the concept of social value in the construction industry has evolved, write Shoosmiths partners Andrew Outram and Patrick Garner.
Casa by Moda has secured an initial £60m debt facility from NatWest, with the ability to rise to £150m.
Midlands-focused REIT, REI, is continuing its sales programme as it dropped to a £780,000 half-year loss.
Plans have been lodged for the UK Land Estates’s expansion of the Teesside Industrial Estate in Thornaby, North Yorkshire.
And finally, for one week only, EG Like Sunday Morning becomes EG Like Monday Morning! In a special Monday morning episode of the weekly podcast, Jess is joined by Nina Zeilerbauer, co-founder of real estate recruiter Madison Berkeley, and Adina David, executive director at MGT and founder of the networking organisation Ladies in Real Estate, to discuss the Empower Equity campaign launching today.
