Good morning. Tuck in to this balanced and nutritious breakfast of property news, served with a side of infrastructure and a sprinkle of economic seasoning.
Businesses looking for London office space this year can expect to pay record rents of £90psf as supply lags behind demand. (The Times (£) also has the story, but it isn’t as good.)
Owners of tower blocks with ‘Grenfell-style’ cladding can expect to be “named and shamed” by Robert Jenrick, unless they start replacing it with the month.
The Barclay brothers may be close to selling the Ritz for ten times more than they bought it for, as they mull Sidra Capital’s offer(£)…
..And Harrods could be close to having its own hotel. Plans for a £300m luxury hotel development(£), linked to the iconic store by a secret tunnel, have been given the thumbs up, with talk of Harrods stepping in to run it.
Knight Frank has reported a record number of prospective buyers(£), with interest rising 92%…
…While the IMF and PwC reckon that the UK economy will outperform the EU(£) over the next two years. Assuming there is an orderly Brexit and a smooth transition period, that is.
But the gap between London and the regions just keeps yawning open. This time it is from figures showing that banks are less willing to lend to SMEs in the north and Midlands(£).
That might make Boris Johnson’s plans to “level up” the country tricky. But so will Number 10’s incessant “spinning” against HS2(£), says Oakervee review author Andrew Sentance. Then again, the £106bn could come in handy for building those 40 fabled hospitals, or 200, for that matter(£).
The papers are still running yesterday’s story about Intu seeking £1bn and Beales going into administration (see our versions here and here). Meanwhile, The FT (£) has a good ‘long read’ about the retail crisis in the United States, and how cutting rents may not help at all.
In Paris, JPMorgan Chase has bought a second HQ building near its current digs in Place Vendôme, as it prepares to move staff out of London.
And finally, Amazon is going to install smart tills in its bricks and mortar stores that will allow customers to pay for their shopping with a wave or a high five(£). It sounds so warm and fun, until you realise that you have just given Amazon your linked biometric and credit card data.
