Good morning. As Britain celebrates VE Day – from a distance – it looks as though a victory over Covid-19 is even further away.
The government has moved to squash rumours that the lockdown(£) might be easing, although garden centres(£) are probably set to reopen on Monday. The Times (£) has some more thoughts as to what might reopen when.
Household confidence(£) is so far holding steady, but at -33 it can hardly be called “confidence”.
On the stock exchange housebuilders were among the biggest risers yesterday. Morgan Sindall, Vistry and Redrow all made gains, by Countryside dropped by 2.48% despite announcing plans to reopen 80% of its sites.
And house prices fell(£) last month by 0.6%, although the data is drawn from so few sales that Halifax says the estimations are more or less worthless.
Meanwhile anyone wanting to get a mortgage based on their income from bonuses(£) may be out of luck, after lenders advised brokers that they won’t be included in affordability checks.
All this is in the shadow of the Bank of England’s “scenario”(£) that 2m people could become unemployed in the worst recession(£) for 300 years.
Across the pond a record 33m Americans(£) – that’s a fifth of the workforce – are seeking unemployment benefits.
Plans in the UK for could see an army of unemployed workers(£) drafted in to build national infrastructure, as the IFS resurrects the ghost of Joseph Chamberlain.
Four in ten pubs may be forced to call last orders if the lockdown continues to September.
And as Mark Carney urges the government to link bailout cash to firm commitments from companies to respond to climate change…
… The sustainability agenda is expected to boost forestry land values by 6.2% over the next five years. (That’s more than double the return on BTR, btw.)
Next(£) is planning to take over the abandoned Debenhams beauty halls in Hammerson’s shopping centres.
In America luxury department store chain Neiman Marcus(£) has filed for Chapter 11(£).
While in Canada, Sidewalks Labs has abandoned its Toronto Waterfront plans, as pandemic-induced uncertainties make the 12-acre ‘smart’ development a dumb move.
In other news, The Times (£) has a ‘riches to rags’ interview with property player Paul Roshan, who is now planning a £26m comeback.
Sir James Dyson(£) has been told that his plans to ‘improve’ the landscape of his 300-acre estate suck. Historic England argues that the existing vista was good enough for Capability Brown.
And finally, Prince Andrew is being sued over money he allegedly still owes on his Swiss chalet. He and his former wife, Sarah, bought the seven-bedroom Chalet Helora in Verbier for a rumoured £13m in 2014. But, apparently, they still owe the former owner £6m, and missed the deadline to cough up the cash in December. Rumour again has it they plan to sell up to pay off debts, as the original purchase was backed up by a loan from the Bank of Mum and Dad – aka HM QE2. A ‘friend’ said in November: “Like normal people, the duke and the duchess took out a mortgage and the ultimate source of the balance of the funding came from the Queen.” Just like normal people, then. Still, we doubt the Duke is going to get in a sweat about it.
