London is back. Nearly. That’s the message from the latest Loma, with Q2 showing a 50% rise to 1.7m sq ft of space taken up and double the amount invested in offices.
But the positive picture doesn’t tell the whole story, it seems. London landlords are being forced to give away between 12 and 16 months of rent to attract tenants to even the most prime offices, causing grade-A rents to fall by an average of 8% over the year in real terms.
EG’s editor asks: Is this is the true future of the office?
Meanwhile, Morgan Sindall has seen its order book swell to record highs as firm refresh offices to woo back their workforce.
But L&G boss Nigel Wilson says the view from his window tells him that “a lot fewer people” are returning to their offices in the City, compared with the rest of the world. That must be some view!
On the markets L&G saw shares rise 2.9% after announcing a 14% profits boost to more than £1bn. But CLS Holdings went one better, rising 3.1% to claim the title of the FTSE’s biggest riser.
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak(£) will today urge UK pension schemes(£) to back Britain’s “entrepreneurial spirit” by investing less in shares and more in infrastructure and property.
Meanwhile, Taylor Wimpey(£) has lashed out at government plans to introduce “use it or lose it” clauses to clamp down on land banking.
And Robert Tchenguiz’s plans to turn a former spy HQ into “London’s most exclusive club” has been left “dead in the water” after Westminster changed the rules.
Not that anything will be built anyway, if construction costs(£) keep rising.
The MD of the RICS, Matthew Howell, is leaving the embattled institution after seven years to help run the British Medical Association.
Seb Abigail is returning to real estate tech platform VTS less than two years after leaving for Convene.
CBRE veteran Martin Samworth is returning to a leadership position as the chief executive of AI-powered data platform RE5Q.
And City fringe specialist agency Compton has poached Samantha-Jo Roberts from Stirling Ackroyd.
The Times (£) has the market-moving news that Harry and Meghan once thought about moving to New Zealand.
The FT (£) wants to know who will stump up the £100,000 a week rent for Henigman’s 7 St James’s Square. It wants a minimum of three years’ commitment, which would equate to nearly £16m.
And finally, talking of money well spent… The Marble Arch Mound will reopen(£)! Let joy be unconfined. But this time, it seems, its creators have recognised the true worth of the scaffold-and-soil summit. Tickets, which were between £5 and £8 to mount the mound, will now be given away for nothing. Meanwhile, in Paris, the Arc de Triomphe(£) has been covered in blue fabric, prompting fury from those who don’t quite get why wrapping things up is art. It could be worse, mes amis. At least you don’t have Le Tertre de Triomphe squatting next to it.
