Good morning. Here is your AM bulletin with the latest news and views from EG and a few of the best bits from the morning papers.
The UK’s public debt could swell to three times its GDP, unless urgent action is taken. But that is merely the baseline projection from the Office for Budget Responsibility. Climate change, another pandemic or merely a credit crunch could send the figure to 435%. It adds that the chancellor’s plans to grapple with this are “relatively modest”.
Meanwhile, Britain’s ambition to become a life sciences superpower has been dealt a major blow, as foreign direct investment into the sector falls from £1.9bn to just £1bn.
And The FT (£) asks how bad the commercial real estate reckoning will be in the US, ahead of JPMorgan and Citi’s reports later today.
In other news, Canary Wharf Group has hired Grosvenor’s Jack Brewster as development director for Wood Wharf. He will be charged with delivering the 5.5m sq ft, residential-led masterplan, which CWG sees as key to reinvigorating the district.
A report by McKinsey says unless cities take greater steps to mix up uses, demand will dwindle and they will rot from the inside out, wiping $800bn from office values globally. It calls for current offices blocks to have workspace, residential and retail – possibly even on the same floors.
As more families are pushed out of the UK’s inner cities by rising costs and falling standards, The FT (£) contemplates the prospect of a childless city.
It also looks at why getting on the property ladder has become a question of inherited wealth, not income(£)…
As the number of homes for rent in the UK has slumped to a 14-year low.
Rural and county economies are recovering far more slowly from the coronavirus crisis than urban and city areas. EY and County Councils Network say this is proof that rural areas need powerful mayors.
And Historic England has written to ministers, warning that new development – including the £220m Royal Street scheme on the South Bank – could cost Westminster its World Heritage Site status.
Government plans to replace domestic gas boilers with a hydrogen-based alternative are likely to be scrapped.
And The FT (£) takes a trip to China, where Beijing is still struggling to revive the paralysed property market.
