Good morning. This is your AM bulletin, with all the latest news and views from EG, along with a few of the best bits from the daily papers.
Canary Wharf Group appears to have had its revenge on Clifford Chance, after ditching it for its recent £535m deal. The law firm has acted for the estate for 20 years, but not since it opted to move to the City.
Home REIT has sold 40 properties for nearly £5m as new property adviser AEW attempts to steady the business.
Are we near the peak for interest rate rises? Or are we stuck in a “low-growth trap”?
The services sector would appear to suggest the latter.
And Michael Gove is tipped to be leaving levelling up in a move to the Department of Health in autumn’s planned reshuffle.
Meanwhile, UK agents are racing to expand their lettings businesses. Knight Frank said it has invested more in its lettings business in the past two years than any time in the previous two decades.
British investors have pulled money from ESG funds badged as sustainable or ethical at their fastest ever rate, with outflows last month reaching £376m and the quarter up to £1bn.
And Brits paid a record amount of capital gains tax last year – a total of £16.7bn.
In other news, Enfield Council and Countryside Partnerships have brought Pymmes Waterside to market, a 23-acre slice of the larger £6bn Meridian Water regeneration masterplan.
Homeware retailer Wilko is on the brink of administration, putting 400 stores at risk.
And the (possibly outgoing?) secretary of state’s decision to turn down Marks & Spencer’s Oxford Street plans may seem like good news for heritage, retrofit and redevelopment, writes Montagu Evans partner Timur Tatlioglu. But more than anything, the case just further underlines ongoing inconsistency in decision making.
