Editor’s comment: The markets, as they do, quickly formed a judgment.
As ministers resigned, the pound slid, equities dropped – in London, across Europe, and US futures too – and gilts climbed as investors looked for safety.
And, of course, property stocks shouldered greater losses than most. Housebuilders were among the worst hit, but developers – and banks too – suffered.
“We expect, and are planning for, continued political and economic uncertainty, particularly given the ongoing Brexit negotiations,” said Great Portland Estates chief executive Toby Courtauld in a half-year results announcement released at 7am on Thursday. How might the tone have changed if he had written it at 9am?
It seems European negotiators’ talk of a lose- lose situation are being played out.
We mustn’t forget though that deals are still being done – lettings and investment – and as this week’s Deloitte Cranes Survey shows, the amount of office space under construction in London is above the long-term average and completions have hit a 14-year high. Yes, there are plenty of buts that can be thrown at that. Yet by many measures things are going pretty well.
Can it continue? Yes. Will it continue. It is all but impossible to call what happens next when uncertainty is piled upon uncertainty.
■ It is a reassuringly serious appointment for a serious role: Kaela Fenn-Smith is joining gender diversity organisation Real Estate Balance as its first managing director.
Fenn-Smith has a big job ahead of her working with male and female leaders to address the gender imbalance in property. And she has been set a clear target: to see women represent 33% of the senior leadership positions in real estate by 2020, taking it, ultimately, to 50%.
She’ll need support, of course, building the organisation’s capacity to support the UK real estate sector in setting and meeting commitments for change. Monitoring, measuring and evaluating progress will be key. Let’s not kid ourselves either that progress will be linear.
The appointment of Landsec’s former head of commercial marks a step change for Real Estate Balance, which has been run by volunteers since its launch in 2015.
Fenn-Smith will no doubt build on the organisation’s founding philosophy that change has to work from the “top down” through corporate leaders and from the “bottom up” at mid-ranking levels. The former will be more easily achieved than the latter.
But she will get plenty of support, including from EG.
We took a lot of flak on Twitter for including back-to-back all-male panels at our Future of London conference last week. Pointing out that there had been an all-female panel and a majority-female panel too – indeed, the speaker line-up across the two days was 40% female – EG’s deputy editor Sam McClary responded with an open letter urging more women to put themselves forward for speaking slots. (Her headline was deliberately provocative to get attention.)
I’m pleased to say it worked. Our database of potential female speakers has swelled. And, as a result of an accompanying survey, we are much better informed about the barriers to acceptance.
We share the aims of Real Estate Balance and look forward to making similar progress in promoting diversity through our events, pages, podcasts and videos.
To send feedback, e-mail damian.wild@egi.co.uk or tweet @DamianWild or @estatesgazette
