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Cryptocurrencies are surging again. Bitcoin has just hit an all-time high of more than US$72,000 (£56,300), pushing past the level of circa US$69,000 where it turned back during its last bull phase in late 2021. Other top cryptocurrencies like ethereum and solana have reached their highest prices in three years, on the back of a run that has been going since the autumn. The value of the whole cryptocurrency market has raced up to US$2.6 trillion, triple what it was worth at the beginning of 2023... Read More >

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Marks & Spencer has won its appeal against Michael Gove’s decision to reject the retailer’s plans to demolish and rebuild its Marble Arch store. But are offices on Oxford Street a good idea? Many years ago, I was having lunch with a Read More >

The West End of London is an ownership jigsaw dominated by a handful of “great estates” which together own hundreds of acres at the heart of the capital. It seems hard to imagine a London without the names of Grosvenor, Portman, Howard de Read More >

China’s National Peoples’ Congress (NPC) meeting kicked off today with Premier Li’s announcing its first Government Work Report. It’s definitely an interesting day for all China watchers and investors, as we are all looking for clues in Read More >

Property tax remains one of the largest state and local tax obligations. Nearly all local taxing jurisdictions, including municipalities, counties, and boards of education, generate tax revenue through the imposition of property tax, which is Read More >

Nareit analysis of data from Preqin, a financial research firm that tracks investments in alternative assets, indicates that the use of REITs by pension plans has been increasing, particularly among the largest, most sophisticated plans. As of Read More >

Two years after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia is still facing an unprecedented number of economic sanctions. It has been excluded from major global financial services, and around €260 billion (£222 billion) of its Read More >

The world is in turmoil. The war in Ukraine grinds on, with persistent calls for the United States to continue supplying Ukraine’s war effort. China may be poised to invade Taiwan in the coming years and assert its ambitions throughout the Read More >

This article has been written by Linz Darlington, managing director of Homehold which offer an end-to-end lease extension service with integrated lease extension solicitors. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill is making quick progress Read More >

The world has changed since we released our last New Zealand construction sector report in August 2021. Inflation and interest rates continuing to rise, and the Reserve Bank is actively pursuing a slowdown in our economy. In addition, climate Read More >

1) Industrial vacancy to peak just above 7% Even after white-hot growth industrial rents are expected to stay steady with vacancies peaking within the year. 2) Consumer spending stays strong for services, travel and Read More >

Having the proper framework is critical to benefit from the current repricing. Single-family offices are a heterogeneous group of investors and differ in various categories; in particular their size or the targets for generating the target Read More >

The last few years haven't been kind to the UK stock market and the FTSE 250, much like the FTSE 100, has fallen out of favour with all but the hardiest and most dedicated (or stubborn) UK investors. Perhaps now is indeed the time to throw in Read More >

The recent return of violence to Lebanon derails hope that the worst of the crises that have plagued the country over the past four years have been left behind. After a spiral of hyperinflation, debt default and crumbling public services, Read More >

The year 2023 will be remembered as turbulent for cryptocurrencies, with numerous important developments that ultimately helped to “clean up” the space to potentially make it more attractive to mainstream investors. Notably there was the Read More >

Networks are defined as "formal exchanges, either in the form of asset pooling or resource provision, between two or more parties that entail on-going interaction in order to derive value from the exchange." (Smith-Doerr and Powell, 2005). These Read More >

The tools we use to analyse data play a pivotal role in shaping investment decisions. Is it possible that cognitive bias can creep in when we favour sensitivity tables over histograms? This article delves into the contrasting aspects of Read More >

One tired cliché is that those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. The implication is that we should remember every historical event and process and cumulate them. While there is wisdom in not throwing away historical Read More >

Or are they setting us up for the next rally? The real estate market in Europe has been on a roller coaster ride over the past few decades. The financial crisis of 2008 had a significant impact on the real estate market, leading to a slump in Read More >

Last month, the Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, Robert Colvile, tweeted about a CPS publication from 1990 which was far ahead of its time: NIMBYism – The Disease And The Cure by Richard Ehrman. Although written in the Read More >

"The nature of Monkey was... irrepressible!" The Chinese Economy looks awful. I challenge readers to find anything positive written about it in recent weeks. A few years ago – in the wake of Economic crisis in the West, attracted by Read More >

A recent issue of The Economist contained a deep irony.  The newspaper’s “Finance & Economics” section featured an article on the US economy. After expressing happy surprise that the US economy continues to grow despite Read More >

When it comes to the planned redevelopment of its flagship store on London’s Oxford Street, Marks & Spencer is not taking Michael Gove’s intervention lying down. Many years ago, I was having lunch with a London office agent who Read More >

My generation is set to be the first in 100 years to be poorer than our parents, yet we have a political system that funnels money into the hands of the old. The most obvious, and perhaps most egregious manifestation of this is the triple lock Read More >

More and more real estate funds are reporting on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in their annual reports, because investors consider the non-financial performance of these funds to be important. To map this development, BDO Read More >

Metro Bank positioned itself as “a fresh start to banking” when it launched in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis. It was set up in 2010 as a challenger to the “big five” banks dominating the UK market post-crisis: HSBC, Read More >

When Covid struck, businesses and employees pivoted to home working in a matter of days. Most of us assumed it would be a temporary arrangement. But, three years on, employers are still grappling with hybrid working – and getting people to Read More >

A lousy summer, an unsatisfactory conclusion to The Ashes, for us, wrapped up warm for the first day of the football season, and a job following the quoted real estate sector. Happy? Hmm… So, rates up means REITs down, but the volatility Read More >

After a row over the closure of his bank account earlier this year, former politician Nigel Farage has hit out at the UK financial regulator for saying it has found no recent evidence of customers being “de-banked” over their personal Read More >

Our planet has just seen its hottest month on record, with many places on fire or flooded. Few events can be directly attributed to climate change, but the likelihood of extreme weather keeps increasing – and people are Read More >

Once upon a time – in 2019 – tourists from China were among the best-traveled in the world. They collectively spent more than US$250 billion abroad – nearly twice as much as their nearest competitors, the Americans – Read More >

The US banking crisis triggered worries about the global banking system earlier in the year. Three mid-sized US banks, Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate and Signature, fell in quick succession, driving down bank share-prices across the Read More >

The dangers of false dilemmas: moving beyond binary thinking in the rent control debate. In her paper titled Two is a Small Number: False Dichotomies Revisited, Canadian philosopher Trudy Govier raises concerns about the impact of false Read More >

From the early days of human space activity in the 1960s, missions to the Moon have attracted significant global attention. India’s recent success in landing the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the Moon was technically demanding and occurred in a Read More >

As Kyiv’s counteroffensive to liberate Russian-occupied territories slowly advances in Ukraine’s east, the drone war continues to escalate. Beyond the symbolic value of high-profile strikes against targets in Moscow, deep in Read More >

The debate about how much of a role Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play in our lives is essentially over. AI is here to stay and will play a significant role in every facet of daily living and business, including real estate. The AI Read More >

There has been much talk about offices heading for the buffers. The nightmare scenario is many thousands of office buildings being deemed virtually worthless as leases come up for renewal, leaving owners and even lenders run Read More >

In 1937 the English economist Joan Robinson proposed that “when capitalism is rightly understood, the rate of interest will be set at zero and the major evils of capitalism will disappear”. John Maynard Keynes, who had taught Read More >

Another instalment in a series of articles detailing how to design a secure, income-producing portfolio. In my series of articles so far, we have dispelled the idea that liquidity is always and everywhere good, and we have shown that most Read More >

In economics and investment 101 classes, students are taught theories underpinned by a sacrosanct assumption that investors are rational. On first hearing, this appears logical and difficult to argue with; it’d be a brave student that stands Read More >

Cambridge is a renowned global centre of innovation and recent Government announcements underscore how vital the city is to UK PLC. Just this week, levelling up secretary Michael Gove lauded the success of businesses here and outlined Read More >

“What’s wrong with that?” Buzzword of the year so far! The best is getting better, and the worst is getting worse. It applies to the assets and, to a lesser extent, the quoted sector. Driven by property fundamentals and impending Read More >

The Russia-Ukraine grain deal that has been critical to keeping global food prices stable and preventing famine is currently in tatters. On July 17, 2023, Russia said it was pulling out of the year-old deal, which allowed Read More >

The President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has written to Dame Janet Pareskeva, OBE, the Head of the Institution’s Standards and Regulation Board and in effect required her resignation. This creates a new situation in the Read More >

Recently, Armada ETF Advisors attended the NYU Schack REIT Symposium where multiple REIT CEOs and industry participants spoke on a variety of panels and topics such as interest rates, cap rates and the current lending environment. Speaking on Read More >

HSBC is moving its UK headquarters from Canary Wharf back into the City of London as it adjusts to the impact of hybrid work on its office space needs. This could signal the reverse of the 1990s trend of banks moving out of the City Read More >

Confidence in China’s post-COVID recovery has started to waver over the past week after the world’s second-largest economy reported disappointing figures for two of the major drivers of its economy: property and exports. In response, Read More >

So the Ukrainian counteroffensive is well and truly underway, even if progress is measured in metres rather than the rapid advances that characterised Ukraine’s highly successful push last autumn. Volodymyr Zelensky himself has confirmed this, Read More >

China’s reopening and the abandonment of stringent domestic Covid restrictions prompts thoughts on prospects for the property market in China: after the difficulties of 2022, spring is definitely in the air. First let’s take a look at the Read More >

For most cheese lovers, taste is the thing. Whether it’s a tangy blue stilton or a creamy oozing camembert, the most important element is the eating. But cheese has profound political and economic properties too, with implications for Read More >

Originally published March 2023 Federal budget hawks are in a pickle. Having predicted nine out of the last zero debt crises, those of us worried about the trajectory of US government spending have the inevitable task of convincing the public Read More >

Originally published March 2023 Be sure your door is open to possibilities, says this writer To say we’re living in very uncertain times may be a gross understatement. A lot has happened in the last few years politically, Read More >

US office capital value will be 17% below 2021 values by 2030. Source: Oxford Economics/MSCI Having just passed the three-year anniversary of the Covid lockdowns, it is a good moment to take stock of the impact of the pandemic on US office Read More >

UK government debt prices have taken an unnerving journey south in the past few days. The closely watched ten-year bond has now hit a yield of 4.3%, taking it within a fraction of the level that caused a crisis in autumn 2022. The cause that Read More >

Another instalment in a series of articles detailing how to design a secure, income-producing portfolio. There are around 72 million baby boomers in the U.S. and they’re an affluent group. They account for less than a quarter of the U.S. Read More >

This morning, March 19th 2033, UK CPI (Consumer Price Inflation) finally edged below 6% for the first time in more than a decade. City analysts see no immediate reason why The Bank of Britain (“BOB”) should consider an early rate cut – Read More >

Buzzfeed News, once a shining star of digital journalism, has announced it will shut its award-winning news division for good, laying off about 60 journalists in a move its founding editor, Ben Smith, described as “the end of the Read More >

A New Year and just maybe a brighter dawn for the quoted REITs? As I type we’re about to finish the results season for the December year end companies. Results have varied between slightly worse than expected to reasonably satisfactory which Read More >

The world of international trade is undergoing a revolution, as new technologies and global events disrupt traditional systems and practices. At the forefront of this change is the role of currencies, and in particular, the status of the US Read More >

“Every once in a while a book lands on your desk that changes the way you perceive the world you live in, a book that fundamentally challenges your understanding of human history.” So began the blurb that came with this book. Aha! I thought. Read More >

During the course of wars, the infrastructure of cities faces destruction. Fighting, regardless of its intentions, destroys roads, bridges, commercial and residential buildings, as well as the architecture they embody. Throughout history and Read More >

The recent successful launch of the BDO PropCost - an independent analysis of service charge expenditure data benchmarking report, has been very well received by all parties in the property industry who have been calling for more transparent Read More >

The recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a regional US bank that funded start-up companies in the technology and innovation sector, has created a worldwide wave of financial instability. Despite the efforts of US financial Read More >

China’s billions of dollars in global investments and infrastructure projects seem to be paying off politically and economically. Just recently, Honduras signalled it is set to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan, having been one of Read More >

When gas prices rose 150 percent from June 2020 to June 2023, politicians and the media didn’t hesitate to blame corporate greed. The evidence they offered was two-fold: rising prices and rising profits. Yet over the past six Read More >

With homeownership slipping out of reach for millions and soaring rents, the dearth of genuinely affordable homes is seeing property guardianship on the rise. Property guardians live in empty or disused premises that Read More >

Here’s what they get wrong. Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor and likely future presidential contender, has opened up a new front in his party’s war on “woke capitalism”. He is proposing to change the rules around Read More >

The core investor’s playbook. Who would want to invest in an opportunity that was more likely to fail than succeed? In most fields of investing, including real estate, the answer is nobody. But for venture capitalists, it is a different Read More >

My decade of research shows why elitism is endemic and top firms don’t really care. During the Covid pandemic, as most wages stagnated, workers in the City of London were enjoying bumper pay packets. Average partner salaries in one Read More >

Imagine you run a company. There you are, quite literally minding your own business. When suddenly, a man from the Government appears on your doorstep. Your industry is full of bad people, he says, who have done bad things. So pay up, right now. Read More >

This writer supposes there must be a world out thereworth investigating… Some day, anyway. 2022 has been a frenetic year for markets – watching the Truss debacle bring down the whole economy by unravelling the Virtuous Sovereign Trinity Read More >

Here’s what we can learn from the build-up to WW2 UK defence minister Alex Chalk visited Rosyth shipyard in Fife, Scotland a few days ago to kick off construction on the second ship in a new class of frigates for the Royal Navy. Read More >

Elite universities have embarked on a quest for diversity. They have devoted hundreds of millions of dollars to obtaining a diverse faculty. Many universities now require applicants for faculty positions or promotion to Read More >

Like most stock market indices around the world, the S&P 500 did not have a particularly good 2022. Shortly after reaching a new all-time high in 2021, the index went from 4,766 at the start of 2022 to 3,840 by the end, recording a Read More >

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year caused oil and gas prices to surge, triggering a cost of living crisis in many countries, including the UK. To pay for support for households and businesses experiencing this energy price crisis, Read More >

In December 2022, then-Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) introduced the Federal Reserve Accountability Act. It is intended to increase accountability, address left-leaning political activism, and ensure greater geographic and professional diversity Read More >

How an obscure US firm profited from triggering the Indian giant’s price plunge. A few weeks ago, Gautam Adani was indisputably India’s richest man. Now his fortune is slipping away as the stocks of his many companies crash, thanks to Read More >

To the delight of investors across the cryptosphere, the price of bitcoin (BTC) has rallied over 53% since its low of US$15,476 (£12,519) in November. Now trading around US$23,000, there’s much talk that the bottom has finally been Read More >

Originally published August 2022. Published in 1946, the novel Orphan of Asia, by Taiwanese author Wu Zhou-liu, tells the story of Hu Tai-ming. Born in Japan-occupied Taiwan, brought up in the Chinese tradition, Hu is forced into the Read More >

Originally published September 2022. In the midst of today’s cost of living crisis, many people who are critical of the idea of economic growth see an opportunity. In their recent book The Future is Degrowth, for example, prominent Read More >

Originally published September 2022. How advanced is technology to suck up carbon dioxide – and could it slow climate change? Humanity must remove up to 660 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere by the end of Read More >

FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts (FTSE ST REIT Index) increased from 723.18 to 725.07 (0.26%) compared to last month's update. The REIT Index has rebounded from the sell-off in September and October and since early November has been within Read More >

Two inconvenient truths are fundamental to the relationship between fund investors and asset/fund managers in real estate investing. They are straightforward and well-understood, but they are problematic.  When real estate investments Read More >

Has Paris really stolen the limelight from the City of London? In late 2022, the French press exulted at the news that Paris’s market capitalisation had overtaken London’s. While these financial centres have been competing for more Read More >

Originally published November 2022. ...but REITs look well positioned. The cost of debt for real estate increased steeply in 2022, as credit conditions tightened, loan margins widened and recession fears started to bite. Rising rates have Read More >

With Russian troops digging trenches to prepare for an expected winter standoff, it would be easy to conclude that fighting will slow in Ukraine until after the ground thaws in the spring. But evidence from the Ukrainian battlefields Read More >

Originally published October 2022.  Productivity, sustainability and resilience.  This summer I left central London and lived for a month in suburban Austin, Texas. It was an adjustment. In London, I was used to having a Read More >

‘Flexible working’ could mean many things. To employers such as the train-operating companies, it might mean unions which are prepared to change rigid rostering systems dating back decades. To other employers it might mean employing people Read More >

Originally published October 2022. Why the sport’s model is ‘broken’. As athletes, rugby union players are notoriously robust. But in England, the finances behind the sport are looking far from healthy. In the space of a few Read More >

Drones are already shaping the face of our cities – used for building planning, heritage, construction and safety enhancement. But, as studies by the UK’s Department of Transport have found, swathes of the public have a limited Read More >

It’s a glorious afternoon at a luxury resort in Egypt, with six swimming pools leading to a lovely little stretch of beach on the Red Sea. A salsa aquatic class in one of the pools has several enthusiastic participants. Elsewhere, guests Read More >

Originally published October 2022. Winston Churchill once said Britain should never escape from the United States, Europe and the Commonwealth. However, with the UK no longer a member of the European Union and the news that there will be no Read More >

Originally published October 2022. But this writer believes there’s plenty of hope for landlords. The sector had a tawdry H1 with significant underperformance against the All Share Index for all the obvious reasons. As interest Read More >

Originally published October 2022. Success depends on recognising a good thing. Do you indulge in magical thinking?  You probably don’t want to think so, but many people believe they can influence outcomes that are randomly Read More >

Are criminals rational? In his groundbreaking work of 1968, Gary Becker argued that they are. The American economist, who would go on to win the Nobel prize in economics in 1992, theorised that individuals engage in crime only if the returns Read More >

Somewhat quiet on the (Far Eastern) front The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, beginning 24 February, has turned the Russian energy trade upside down. Meanwhile, McKinsey estimates that Chinese demand for gas will double to 526 Read More >

Speculation regarding how secure Vladimir Putin’s position is surfaces every few years, but has intensified since the invasion of Ukraine, particularly in light of Russia’s military failures in recent months. Many of these speculative Read More >

A book review. “Those who fail to study the intellectual debates of the past are condemned to repeat them,” is a variation on Santayana’s famous dictum particularly applicable to economics and monetary theory, where ideas cycle along Read More >

GlaxoSmithKline (now known simply as GSK) has long been a favourite with dividend investors. Despite that popularity, the sad reality is that GSK has long been a disappointment on almost every front, with its share price stuck in a Read More >

Most people outside Ukraine, even military analysts, have never heard of Oleksander Syrski. But Colonel General Syrski has a claim to being the most successful general of the 21st century so far. The success of this week’s operation in Read More >

Queen Elizabeth II was not just a monarch, she represented a global brand. And for the past seven decades, this brand has to some extent defined and promoted the British nation around the world. Brands are important corporate (or in this Read More >

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese cities have repeatedly imposed lockdowns following their central government’s stubborn pursuit of zero-Covid. But lockdowns weren’t limited to authoritarian regimes such as China. Many democracies Read More >

What’s gold today may be coal tomorrow. It has been 15 years since Apple catapulted the smartphone into the mainstream, with the launch of the iPhone 1. Today there are more than six billion (and rising) smartphone users globally, all with Read More >

FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts (FTSE ST REIT Index) decreased from 807.47 to 828.74 (2.63%) compared to last month's update. The REIT Index has reversed to a short-term uptrend, with the 20-day and 50-day Simple Moving Average (20 Read More >

A considered outlook. International integration has faced numerous challenges over the past decade. Brexit and the Trump presidency are clear examples where traditionally outward-looking trading economies turned inwards. More recently, the Read More >

In his 2005 book, Everything was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation, Alexei Yurchak introduced the term ‘hypernormalisation’.  The book concentrated on the circumstances that existed in the Soviet Union Read More >

Up to 8% of all global anthropogenic human-made emissions are due to just one material, cement. And our use of it is rising. The cement and concrete industry is encouraging this use, for example, by claiming that using concrete will Read More >

The latest UK Anti-Money Laundering (AML) National Risk Assessment (2020) assessed the UK’s property sector as high risk for money laundering (ML). It attributes this to certain attributes and features of the sector, market participants and Read More >

Another instalment in a series of articles detailing how to design a secure, income-producing portfolio. Several years ago, a small experiment led to a terrifying discovery. I was helping a family investment office do some long-range Read More >

Investors as a group are as pessimistic and afraid as they've been for a long time. Many investors are willing to sell at almost any price to escape these negative feelings, and that has pushed the FTSE 250 down more than 20% (the Read More >

How to avoid a widening gap. Investors and occupiers are increasingly prioritising environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials as part of their appraisal process for office space across the UK. As the demand for grade A office Read More >

A look at how accurate predictions proved to be. If my thought process at the beginning of the year was ‘Buy the Discounts’, the corollary was to ‘Sell the Premiums’. Doing the latter would have saved you a lot of money, doing the Read More >

How to avoid a widening gap. Investors and occupiers are increasingly prioritising environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials as part of their appraisal process for office space across the UK. As the demand for grade A office Read More >

Originally published May 2022. When I first moved to London 20 years ago, the sight of a parakeet was a relatively rare occurrence, a pleasant surprise. I would only see them when I visited certain parts of town, such as Richmond Park. It Read More >

Originally published May 2022. Everything follows a cycle, says this writer. Cycles are vital in nature. The carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the hydrological cycle, planetary orbits, the phases of the moon and ocean tides – all are Read More >

Originally published May 2022. In the context of work, the digital divide has become less about access to devices and connectivity and more about skills and mindset. Many experienced professionals have never learned more than the rudimentary Read More >

It’s time to bring life sciences real estate to investors. 2021 was the year of life sciences real estate and we did three research projects one after the other on this fast-growth sector. The first two were for the Urban Land Institute and Read More >

Originally published September 2021. The value of a creation is only that which we give it. Millions of people across our planet fervently believe in the righteousness of their beliefs. Different gods, belief systems, what is forbidden, Read More >

Another instalment in a series of articles detailing how to design a secure, income-producing portfolio When there is a market disruption, whether it’s a major crisis or a garden-variety fluctuation, there is more instability in stock Read More >

5th June 2022. FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts (FTSE ST REIT Index) decreased from 853.56 to 820.69 (-3.85%) compared to last month's update. FTSE REIT Index is currently trading within the 800-822 range. Yield spread (in Read More >

Originally published April 2022. The skills needed to identify market opportunities are very different from those required to convince stakeholders of the validity of your view. Strategists need to nurture the ability to bring others with Read More >

Originally published May 2022. Greenpeace has finally woken up to the fact that bitcoin is wasting vast amounts of electricity and something should be done about it. They are calling for a change to bitcoin’s computer code to stop the Read More >

Originally published November 2020. When 2020 dawned, no one could have fathomed what eventually would envelop the world and define how history will remember it for future generations – the covid-19 pandemic. As we near the end of a Read More >

This month, the Bank of England will celebrate 25 years of independence. For the past quarter of a century it alone, and not Her Majesty’s Government, has been responsible for setting interest rates and controlling the amount of money Read More >

Jimmy Savile was one of the UK’s most serious serial sexual predators. Over several decades the television personality groomed and abused up to 1,000 boys and girls in TV studios as well as patients at NHS hospitals across Britain. That he Read More >

Originally published March 2022. Hong Kong’s implementation of draconian Covid policies threatens its status as an international financial hub. This is seen through Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s execution of Chinese President Xi Read More >

As with other innovations, it carries risks as well as benefits. Originally published August 2021. There is this great cartoon where a man sits behind a laptop having a Zoom call at his kitchen table perfectly shaven and dressed in a shiny Read More >

Another instalment in a series of articles detailing how to design a secure, income-producing portfolio. According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), for the 12 months ended January 2022, inflation soared to 7.5%, the highest annualised Read More >

FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts (FTSE ST REIT Index) decreased from 864.41 to 853.56 (-1.25%) compared to last month's update. The Singapore REIT index reached a high of 873 on April 5th, before falling into the 850-862 range since Read More >

Here’s how it played out. Originally published March 2022. It’s impossible to predict how the crisis in Ukraine will progress, but the rupture in relations between Russia and the West is unlikely to heal any time soon. At the very Read More >

Interest hikes are not always a smooth answer. The inflation rate has been a recent ongoing hot topic of debate as more and more countries are experiencing a surge in consumer prices, according to the latest data. It is, however, an expected Read More >

“You have to be kidding me.” Those were the words uttered with obvious incredulity to Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, the original founders of Tesla Motors. They were at a bar in Woodside and they were discussing their hope of changing Read More >

There’s a good chance you’ve heard a song by Ed Sheeran called 'Shape of You'. It’s been streamed over three billion times on Spotify and viewed over five billion times on YouTube.  The song 'Oh Why', by Sam Chokri, is less well Read More >

Promoters claim that bitcoin is a new type of money, reduces transaction costs by abandoning intermediaries and will become a safe asset that they call 'digital gold'. The bitcoin network, in fact, is a game of chance subject to existing Read More >

At the end of February in 1972, US president Richard Nixon visited Beijing to mark the beginning of a dramatic shift in attitudes and policies affecting the destinies of the respective regimes. Jimmy Carter ended America’s diplomatic Read More >

The UK was headed towards a serious inflationary spike long before the Russians invaded and destroyed much of Ukraine. Food, energy and other commodity prices were already rising at a worrying pace, and in the UK a swift rebound from the Read More >

Hong Kong’s implementation of draconian Covid policies threatens its status as an international financial hub. This is seen through Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s execution of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Read More >

As with other innovations, it carries risks as well as benefits. Originally published August 2021. There is this great cartoon where a man sits behind a laptop having a Zoom call at his kitchen table perfectly shaven and dressed in a shiny Read More >

Here’s how it played out. It’s impossible to predict how the crisis in Ukraine will progress, but the rupture in relations between Russia and the West is unlikely to heal any time soon. At the very least, trade between these two Read More >

...and why you should think twice before playing them. Originally published September 2021. The gaming industry is big business in the US, contributing an estimated $240b to the economy each year, while generating $38b in tax revenues Read More >

Gentrified locations, life sciences and IT. Many cities across APAC (Asia Pacific) continue to grow at an aggressive pace. And with this growth has come the emergence of new and exciting urban locations including in Sydney, Melbourne, Read More >

The winners and losers so far. It’s two weeks since the world woke up to the dreadful news of a Russian attack on Ukraine. Notwithstanding the incalculable costs in terms of human lives, as well as human capital and physical Read More >

Originally published November 2021. An impromptu decision reveals new angles in real estate research. A few years ago, I heard of a survey in which people were asked what language they would most like to learn. I expected the Read More >

The country’s declining fertility is an underrated cause of the 20th century’s misfortunes. Originally published January 2022. Britain’s population will soon be in natural decline, so that over the course of the 2020s we’ll Read More >

A satirical commercial real estate proposal in the tradition of Jonathan Swift. Originally published February 2022. Fellow citizens of the real estate investing world, may I submit for your consideration that the time has arrived to Read More >

As we’ve seen in previous articles, liquidity is ‘good’ only if your need for it isn’t shared by most other market participants at the same time. If everyone else wants to liquidate at the same time you do, liquidity can be a very bad Read More >

US officials are keeping very busy in the world. Yet very few of Washington’s actions have much to do with protecting America. Instead, the foreign policy establishment believes that its primary role is to run the world. The Department of Read More >

Climate change and the ESG agenda are changing the way we think about places and their relative attractiveness to real estate occupiers and investors. Gone are the days when property investors could rely on a quick contaminated land survey, a Read More >

The fuss around Evergrande seems to be dying down, so now seems as good a time as any to reflect on what happened and try to put it all in perspective. The catalyst for Evergrande’s woes was China’s ‘three red lines’ policy. This Read More >

As the dominant superpower since the end of World War II, the United States has played a core role in crafting the geopolitical status quo in Asia. US state-building operations were influential in the creation of liberal democratic regimes in Read More >

Initial claims for regular state unemployment insurance increased by 23,000 for the week ending 12 February, coming in at 248,000 (see first chart). That is the first increase following three weekly declines. Over the past 13 weeks, claims Read More >

The passing last year of investment great David Swensen was very sad news. We are fortunate that he was a generous sharer of his insight. But we need to be careful to focus on the right lessons from his success. Swensen achieved excellent Read More >

Why property needs to embrace the power of data. Real estate is potentially the biggest untapped data source in the world. Firms accumulate billions of data points at every stage of the development lifecycle, from the breakdown of Read More >

Events in the US following the murder of George Floyd are an object lesson in what happens when policing is ripped out of communities. From Minnesota to Seattle via San Francisco, the progressive fetish of slashing police numbers in reprisal for Read More >

Whichever way things are going, they’ll go a long way. Inflation was rediscovered in September. Up to that date the quoted REIT sector had risen 25%, rebounding as the economy re-opened against a rise in the All Share Index of less than Read More >

Radical overhaul of construction industry needed if UK to have any chance, according to new research. As I entered the construction site in England a decade ago, I was filled with excitement. This was a new state-of-the-art housing Read More >

Power posturing or trouble on the home front for Putin? There is a pressing need to understand what’s behind Moscow’s growing threat to use military force against Ukraine. The real motivation for Russia’s aggression will largely Read More >

Originally published March 2021. I’m sure you have your mind on higher things than the soapier side of the royal family, but I love it. I have a collection of commemorative china, my mum’s knitting me a copy of one of Princess Diana’s Read More >

Originally published October 2021. Knowing what to ask is the trick to getting the right answer. In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a supercomputer called Deep Thought is asked to answer the Ultimate Question of Life, The Read More >

2022: the year of the sportswash. A city without snow and a state in the desert. Obvious places, really, to hold the Winter Olympics and football World Cup if you're the IOC and FIFA. Welcome to 2022, the year of the Read More >

Originally published November 2021. Investment opportunity and political conundrum. The past 30 years saw the rise of coastal cities in the United States. New York, Boston, Miami, San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle and perhaps most Read More >

The Midwest region is a broad geography encompassing the Great Lakes and upper Mississippi and Ohio River watersheds. Major cities in the area include well-known names like Chicago and Detroit, and fast-growing smaller cities like Minneapolis Read More >

Originally published May 2021. The long view of property. In light of the latest review of the long-term economic and financial market outlook, Capital Economics recently revisited our views for commercial property performance over the Read More >

Originally published April 2021. Imagine a grocery store of the future, located in your average middle-class suburb, somewhere in America. On the way to picking up the children from soccer practice, a mother quickly realises she forgot to get Read More >

FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts (FTSE ST REIT Index) increased slightly from 872.79 to 843.73 (-3.33%) compared to the last monthly update. Currently the Singapore REIT index is still trading with a range between 816 and 890.Yield Read More >

Originally published September 2021. The case of the London and Paris office markets. While the global framework of the Paris Accord is gradually being incorporated into national laws in Europe, incentives for property investors to take Read More >

Achieving net zero emissions has a long way to go. Some of the historical events accentuating the recent decade is the threat of pandemics and the urgency towards embracing common environment policies. Both points have either shaped or Read More >

From emptying out to filling back up, New York City is changing. New York’s real estate market has moved from epicentre to bellwether. In early 2020, the city was regarded as at the centre of the Covid pandemic sweeping America. About 18 Read More >

Originally published January 2021. In 1929, when an American congressman compared England’s longest river unfavourably with the Mississippi, the MP for Battersea, John Burns, quipped: “The Mississippi is muddy water, but the Thames is Read More >

Originally published August 2021. Virtually the entire Chinese economy, especially sectors with heavy investment inflows, such as technology, social media and private education, is in a state of flux. Foreign investors are pulling their Read More >

Blair and Brown presided over unprecedented growth in our banking sector with their 'light touch' regulations. The result was the creation of mammoth banks, systemically critical, but fundamentally flawed. When the credit crunch hit in 2008, Read More >

FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts (FTSE ST REIT Index) decreased slightly from 876.88 to 842.13 (-3.96%) compared to the last month update. Currently the Singapore REIT index is still trading with a range between 816 and 890.Yield Read More >

  It’s still all to play for in the REIT sector. I make no apologies whatsoever for repeating much of my mantra for the quoted REIT sector this year. The themes remain consistent, successful and unlikely to change for the rest of Read More >

Overconfidence can be ruinous in real estate and elsewhere. Overconfidence is a cognitive error that we make routinely. It’s the tendency to hold a false assessment of our skills, intellect or talent. Take this article, for example: I Read More >

Originally published February 2021. That I have worked and lived on three continents has given me the chance to create amazing relationships with many different people and cultures, and more importantly, to develop the ability to put things Read More >

Originally published March 2021. For many years retail has been the second-largest invested asset class in the commercial real estate world. But now, being one of the sectors most hard-hit by covid-19, it is often leaving investors nervy, and Read More >

Originally published March 2021. This newly trendy approach is not just environmentally and consumer friendly, it’s practical too – and at root it’s as old as the hills. Regenerative agriculture is the groundswell movement shaking up Read More >

It was inevitable that lumber prices would eventually return to some state of normalcy. I wrote an article less than 50 days ago noting that futures and cash prices, despite having quadrupled in slightly over a year, had dropped 40% in June Read More >

Overwhelming evidence points to the growth of the Southeast region CBRE’s recent US Development Opportunities 2021 report showed that, statistically, the region has been dominant and is forecast for continued growth over the next several Read More >

The world of work has shifted seismically over the past year and as it continues to evolve, businesses of all sizes are developing new workplace strategies to align with what they believe will work for their company and their employees. Business Read More >

It's all still to play for in the upcoming German elections, which will see Angela Merkel bow out after 16 years at the top. Now that the competing political parties are allowed to put their election posters up on the lampposts, the gloves are Read More >

Ningbo-Zhousan may not exactly be a household name, but find something in your house made in China and it’s quite likely it was delivered from there. Ningbo-Zhousan, which overlooks the East China Sea some 200km south of Shanghai, is Read More >

FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts (FTSE ST REIT Index) increased slightly from 849.11 to 868.08 (2.23%) compared to the last month update. Currently the Singapore REIT index is still trading with a range between 816 and 880.Yield spread (in Read More >

Originally published May 2021. Globally cities have taken a hit, but that’s a blip – and the UK capital in particular is set to thrive. London is in crisis. Over the past year the UK capital has experienced population loss of biblical Read More >

Originally published June 2021. The costs have been exaggerated and the benefits are ones that every modern society should welcome. There has been a lot written lately about universal basic income (UBI). Some are in favour, explaining the Read More >

Originally published April 2021. 3 July 1938 was a milestone for British engineering. The LNER 4468 Mallard set a new world speed record for steam-powered locomotives between Little Bytham and Essendine in South Lancashire at 203km/hr. More Read More >

Originally published April 2021. Markets were shaken but unstirred by the collapse of Greensill and the Archegos unwind trades. Credit Suisse is the ultimate loser of the two scandals – reputationally damaged and holed below the water line. Read More >

In the autumn of 2009, I moved from Birmingham to London. At that time, the highest headline office rent in Birmingham’s central business district had just been set at 1 Snow Hill. Returning to Birmingham some 10 years later to head up Read More >

Originally published winter 2019. A player’s three-dart shooting average offers a clear metric that can be analysed to reveal the best strategic options – investment management has parallels. Statistically, if a player’s three-dart Read More >

We always get slightly nervous at REFIRE when Germany goes all bullish on the stock market. It's not that we don't believe in the stock market as a source of capital and wealth building – we do – but it's just that, well... Germans in Read More >

The vintage watch market saw extraordinary growth over the past decade, with more and more collectors becoming drawn into the field. It’s easy to understand why, as this period has also seen many historically important watches appearing on the Read More >

Originally published January 2021. The way we educate our school-leavers needs to change. I can recall being staggered, when first working in the US, by how much personal debt individuals took on as a matter of course to attain a degree. I Read More >

Shopping centres and offices are the surprise front-runners in the REIT scene. In the spring edition of The Property Chronicle, I ventured to suggest that, while there is something for everyone in the REIT sector this year, retail property Read More >

“£180 billion of lockdown savings”, “Retail sales back to pre-pandemic levels”, “High street footfall shows signs of recovery” (Source: Financial Times, BBC, Modern Retail). While the positive headlines surrounding the reopening of Read More >

Following the tragic events at Grenfell Tower in June 2017, the UK Government signalled its intention to end the unsafe cladding of highrise residential buildings, providing funding of over £5b to date, towards the cost of replacing such Read More >

Just as the board game now comes in startlingly modern variations, real estate itself has evolved to match our changing world. he property board game Monopoly has been around since 1935, though it was based on an older educational game. Just Read More >

In the climate crisis, there is a big bloody great elephant in the room: our homes. residential housing contributes 20% of the UK’s CO2e, yet what is being done to tackle it?  The carbon linked to transport, food and buying stuff is Read More >

FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts (FTSE ST REIT Index) decreased slightly from 865.91 to 849.11 (-1.94%) compared to last month's update. Currently the Singapore REIT index is still trading with a range between 816 and 874.Yield spread Read More >

Originally published in April 2021. “Daddy was a bankrobber, but he hurt nobody. He just liked to live that way, stealing all your money…” As Greensill and Archegos roil markets and cause losses, it brings the question: Who is next? Read More >

The UK economy: an ever-changing picture of work in progress, part three. In what follows I wish to make the case that persistent unemployment is not some inevitability whenever the UK is shocked. To do so, I will cast my mind back to the UK Read More >

Sure, the sector suffered last year, but it’s overcome troubles before and will do so again. Real estate investment trusts, or REITs, were misunderstood for years after they debuted in 1960 – even for decades. When they were first written Read More >

FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts (FTSE ST REIT Index) increased slightly from 859.68 to 865.91 (+0.72%) compared to last month's update. Currently the Singapore REIT index is still trading with a range between 816 and 874.Yield spread Read More >

President Joe Biden delivered a speech to a Joint Session of Congress on 28 April 2021, where he made the following remark that should be seen as a red flag: “America is moving – moving forward – but we can’t stop now. We’re in Read More >

The IMF released a sobering Regional Economic Outlook (REO) for Sub-Saharan Africa last month. In 2020, the regional economy shrank by 1.9% and this year the IMF forecasts only 3.4% year-on-year growth for Sub-Saharan Africa compared to 5.8% for Read More >

The island nation of Taiwan may be in the spotlight today for handling covid-19 without a lockdown but it’s about to become one of the most contentious geopolitical flashpoints of the decade. On 17 April 2021, The South China Morning Post Read More >

Offices are starting to strengthen, and reduced supply is making even retail more attractive – as value emerges, it’s time to get back in the game. The UK quoted property sector and indeed much of the direct property market has not had Read More >

Total housing starts rose to a 1.739 million annual rate from a 1.457 million pace in February, a 19.4% increase. The March recovery was expected as weather conditions in significant portions of the country were unfavourable in February and Read More >

FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts (FTSE ST REIT Index) increased from 826.65 to 859.68 (+3.99%) compared with last month’s update. Currently the Singapore REIT index is still trading with a range between 816 and 874. Yield spread Read More >

This article was originally published in December 2017. In our first article we set down how golf courses had developed in the British Isles over the last 120 years: they originally developed in suburban locations on ideal land morphed into mini Read More >

The pandemic took its toll on the population of Israel. The country is viewed by commentators as having come out of lockdown too early in the summer and as a result going back into lockdown around the end of the year due to the spike in the Read More >

Although the covid pandemic has had a major impact on the Pacific Rim office markets, Real Capital Analytics reports show that considerable regional real estate investment attention has focused on the traditional office sector in recent years. Read More >

An event in 1989 shook the world and radically changed how critical institutions operated. No, I’m not talking about the fall of communism and the following disintegration of the Soviet bloc, but of an obscure change of public policy in a land Read More >

Abandoned golf courses are ripe for redevelopment and offer ideal locations for distribution. E-commerce fulfilment does not usually trigger an image of grassy meadows and gently rolling landscapes, but there’s a growing convergence as Read More >

Earlier this month, the UK and Ghana announced the signing of a long-anticipated bilateral economic partnership agreement (EPA) aiming to replicate pre-Brexit trading arrangements and provide for the two countries’ respective long-term Read More >

“A railroad station? That was sort of a primitive airport, only you didn't have to take a cab 20 miles out of town to reach it.” Reading through a recent Economist article discussing the runaway success of the Chinese high-speed rail Read More >

FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts (FTSE ST REIT Index) decreased from 877.59 to 826.65 (-5.80%) compared with last month’s update. Currently the Singapore REIT index is moving sideways after a false breakout at resistance around Read More >

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the markets have been a little volatile in 2021. Or have they been volatile for the last 12 months? Maybe even longer than that? It’s getting difficult to say, when this seems to be the new norm. Take Read More >

Global capital markets rallied at the beginning of the year, riding on expectations of a global economic recovery; investors also cheered the swearing-in of US president Joe Biden and the implications of anticipated policy reversals that could Read More >

New retail leasing models and platforms capture the uplift a physical store can bring to online sales. It is no secret that the retail sector has been in decline for some years, largely because the economics of online retailers and their Read More >

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”For a nation battling with working-from-home fatigue, this statement from Aristotle takes on a new meaning. As we edge closer to the anniversary of the UK’s first lockdown, office-based Read More >

CAP subsidies aren’t why farmland prices rose, so removing them won’t reverse that. My favourite Savills Rural Research graph is the one that has tracked land values in the UK since the 1970s. We have data going way back before that too, Read More >

“Drive-through and pickup-only is the quick-service restaurant business model of the future.” I remember having that conversation with prospective buyers in 2018 when I was selling a single-tenant Dutch Bros Coffee in Payson, Arizona. For Read More >

FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts (FTSE ST REIT Index) increased from 854.19 to 877.59 (+2.74%) since last month’s update. Currently the Singapore REIT index has started an uptrend after breaking resistance around 852 and Read More >

As often happens following major market events, some high-quality but less familiar stocks can find themselves overly discounted in the subsequent recovery. UK property investors have been well aware of the attractions of industrial property for Read More >

As the calendar turns to 2021 and we talk about the great digital pivot everyone experienced in 2020, one of the many themes that comes up in any digitally focused conversation is 5G. A lot of fun stuff comes up in any 5G talk, including (but Read More >

Conducive global developments placed financial markets on a risk-on mode in the final month of 2020. The prospect of widely available coronavirus vaccines, the US bipartisan agreement on fiscal stimulus, and the EU-UK post-Brexit trade Read More >

After the exceptional challenges brought by covid-19, the distribution of a vaccine brings new hope for 2021. Sustained economic recovery is now on the horizon, led by advanced economies where vaccines are being introduced first. This Read More >

Paying dividends is kind of important for a REIT, but some of them seem to have forgotten that lately. This is my 40th year following the sector as analyst, salesman and occasional corporate adviser. When I first started there were just four Read More >

This article was originally published in Spring 2019. An unforeseen revolution has made us all into super shoppers – and shops into receiverships. The retail industry is in distress across the world. The culprit? Lack of profitability. Read More >

If you plan to play the REITs game next year, here’s what you need to know. “Bad News for REIT Investors” … “Negative Ratings Bias Rises as North American REITs Confront Effects of Covid-19” … “From Bad to Worse for REITs” Read More >

Many farming and food companies are investing or plan to invest in improving the sustainability of food production. This Craigmore commentary, the second in a three-part mini-series, examines the strategies of food companies and farmers to Read More >

FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts (FTSE ST REIT Index) increased from 828.26 to 854.19 (+3.13%) compared with last month’s update. Currently the REIT index is testing the resistance of about 852 of a sideways consolidation Read More >

Regional property stocks reversed two consecutive months of falls in November as successful trials of vaccines in development raised hopes for an end to the pandemic. As a Joe Biden victory bred expectations of a more stable geopolitical Read More >

This article was originally published in October 2020. The sector must adapt if it is to survive, but what kind of changes can we expect? There has been much speculation that we are facing the end of the office. With remote working now the Read More >

This article was originally published in October 2020. In order to rethink our working spaces effectively, we must consider new priorities. “The office is dead!” some headlines have proclaimed. “What’s the point of an office Read More >

In the world of commercial real estate office leasing, the sublease market offers a less transparent subset of supply and demand that is difficult to track at best, and frustratingly illogical at worst. Because sublessors are in cost recovery Read More >

What can real estate expect in 2021? After rain there is sunshine, as a Dutch saying goes. And if you have as much rain as we do, you know what you are talking about. So, can we expect sunshine to return in 2021, after this very ‘rainy’ Read More >

FTSE ST Real Estate Investment Trusts (FTSE ST REIT Index) increased slightly from 822.03 to 828.26 (+0.76%) on the monthly update. Currently the REIT index is currently back in trading on sideways consolidation, after recovered from a Read More >

This article was originally published in January 2020. It was always about the last mile, but tech is shifting the emphasis to time. So what makes an optimal last-hour location? Earlier this year I was invited by the International Council Read More >

Capital markets in the region experienced another weak month in October, following a lacklustre September. Uncertainties from the US presidential election, protracted US fiscal stimulus talks and a resurgence in infection numbers in Europe Read More >

Each one of these trends is underpinned by a higher weighting afforded to individual needs, preferences and experiences – meaning that real estate developers and landlords can no longer take a cookie-cutter Read More >

Two of our top contributors, Bill Blain and Ethan Yang, argue it out over bitcoin. Is it no more than imaginary money we'd be foolish to trust, or could it be a medium of growing substance that at the very least is telling us something Read More >

The year 2020 has been exceptional in its radical push for adaptation in social and economic norms globally. In the last 20 years, we have seen a rapid increase in the movement of people, goods and services around the world. The modern global Read More >

The likes of LA, London and Mumbai are being challenged as consumer appetites becomes more global. Media cities are hubs of creativity where films, television, and music are produced, edited, and consumed. A new analysis by Savills of media Read More >

Retail REITs in Singapore have rebounded since phase 2 in Singapore began. In this article, we will be covering five predominantly retail REITs in Singapore, namely Capitaland Integrated Commercial Trust, Frasers Centrepoint Trust, SPH REIT, Read More >

London’s West End, the ultimate UK town centre and home to hundreds of impressive landmarks and just 65,000 residents, was hit by the pandemic harder than other parts of the capital. But the famous central London area is not just responding to Read More >

It has been one of the few good weeks for ‘man’ (occupied offices and physical retail) versus ‘machine’ (logistics), with Landsec and British Land both up 20% but declines for Zoom (-15%), Amazon (-6%) and even the seemingly unstoppable Read More >

In a development that will be viewed with alarm by all property investors, Germany’s politicians and government authorities are looking at whether the purchase of residential apartments should be restricted by law. A recent meeting in July Read More >

Forget the doomsayers: we are on the verge of a golden age. Former US vice-president Dan Quayle once said: “The future will be better tomorrow.” Right now, I’m willing to risk the ridicule of using this statement. Although it might not Read More >

As the pandemic disrupted life around the globe, nearly everyone’s routine changed, including the way we communicate with one another and how we send and receive data. With an abrupt shift in the way we work, and a dramatic increase of data Read More >

The statement has become almost cliché by this point, but when looking more closely at the indices that are commonly referred to as ‘the stock market’, one finds a more nuanced view. True, the S&P 500 has performed uncannily well Read More >

The brutal correction in NASDAQ last week did not spare such former tech sector darlings as cloud software, semiconductors and social media shares. The big daddy of social media is Facebook (symbol FB) and its shares were slammed by $19 on Read More >

The broad-based REIT indexes were relatively flat last week, which was in tandem with the broader based indices.But the biggest talking point has been the two recent activist campaigns launched on Ashford Hospitality Trust (AHT) by Cygnus Read More >

Caution among mortgage lenders is pushing back against government efforts to boost activity in the housing market – and rightly so. The UK government has made recent efforts to reignite activity in the property market to boost the Read More >

Asia Pacific property stocks lost ground in September as risk aversion gripped investors, ahead of a US presidential election and continued concerns that a global economic recovery remains volatile. Investors went on the defensive, even as Read More >

Housing activity – starts and permits – posted strong results in September as the single-family segment made gains across most of the country while multifamily housing appears to be trending flat. Total housing starts rose to a 1.415 million Read More >

Institutional investors are longing for long-income property, with its apparent low risks and high yields. Since the global financial crisis, the decline in bond yields has left institutional investors seeking alternative secure Read More >

Investors must urgently review their portfolios to ensure they are aligned with the major changes taking place – it’s happening faster than you think. It is widely acknowledged that real estate is set to see widening polarisation in Read More >

FTSE ST REIT Index decreased slightly from 854.51 to 822.03 (-3.80%) on the month update.REIT Index has rebounded by about 45% as of 21 September from the bottom on 23 March 2020.Yield spread (reference to 10-year Singapore government bond of Read More >

This article was originally published in Housing shortages in Europe’s cities are driving a rise in tenant protections such as rent control, but that needn’t be a bad thing for investors. Europe’s best cities are booming. With their Read More >

Since the industrial revolution, energy consumption and production has played a central role in economic development as it has set a path for many countries to move from a predominantly agrarian economy into a modern developed country. Petroleum Read More >

The UK needs a more nuanced approach to agricultural trade – let’s ditch the kneejerk reactions, for a start. I argued for Brexit. Don’t get me wrong: I could see the arguments on both sides, but working in agriculture, I knew the folly Read More >

Globally, we watch millions of hours of content daily. Much of that content emanates from North America’s media industry, taking shape on sound stages across the United States and Canada. Sound stages have often been overlooked in Read More >

Demand projections for the next five years point to a huge drop in income streams as occupancy and rents fall. This is not the first time the property press has predicted the end of the office as we know it, with a switch to remote and Read More >

Extraordinary government support for REITs is boosting economies across the region. Economic recovery is beginning for most of the Asia-Pacific region, with stock markets now much more resilient in the early stages of reopening than had been Read More >

The problem with open-ended property funds is that the liquidity required by regulators is incompatible with investing in real assets – how can we resolve this? When it comes to investing, the illiquid nature of real estate is its defining Read More >

Conversion to alternative uses may be the only path for some, but there are other options for the imaginative. Shropshire is the UK’s largest inland county – a fact of which many Salopians are strangely proud, and I know this because Read More >

UK: Total value of exports to EU 27 countries in February 2020: £13,869bn As percentage of total overseas exports: 51%Percentage change since previous year: -7% Percentage change in retail sales in April 2020 compared with last year: Read More >

Rents are known to be volatile as demand and supply interact to create cycles. Rents are also known to vary enormously across properties based on their planning use class, location and condition. This article explores whether the rent setting Read More >

REITs are split ever more markedly into the strong and the weak, with offices set to join retail on the wrong side of that divide – meanwhile, at last I’m getting a lie-in. Testing times indeed. I’ve written here before about the Read More >

What policy approach can support the advance of post-Brexit Britain both nationally, especially in our northern regions, and globally? Contrarily, my starting point is Asia. Vietnam, a fertile coastally populated medium-sized nation near to Read More >

Global growth for BRIC economiesAnnual GDP growth forecast by IMF WEO, World Bank and EIU An era of globalisation that boosted economic growth in developing countries for many years is shifting to an era of deglobalisation with increased Read More >

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has long collected and disseminated data on vitality and health. But why is its data dissemination so terminally ill? Covid-19 has drawn the spotlight on to the internal workings and the Read More >

Viewpoint from a regional investment agent: As I sit in my actual office, in front of my actual PC, I reflect on the first half of 2020 as a Bristol based investment agent, and conclude it was pretty much as expected and reflective of the UK Read More >

Total U.S. multifamily demand should rise by two million units over the next decade.  CBRE Econometric Advisors’ latest long-term outlook for U.S. multifamily rental housing indicates the net gain in occupied units—from 15.4 million Read More >

The A-level exams were cancelled in March in response to the spread of COVID-19. Subject grades in the UK were originally awarded according to a teacher-assessed ranking of students at each centre and the expected grade distribution of the Read More >

Macrobond Industrial Growth Index Euro Area: Percentage decrease in industrial production in April compared to a year before: - 31%Compared to the month before: - 17%Percentage recovery in May compared to disastrous April: Read More >

Impacts fast, recoveries slow Just as tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods quickly change urban landscapes, so too economic disruptions, erratic business cycles, and pandemics impact real estate expectations and forecasts.  Black swan Read More >

There are about 6.3 million highly skilled tech workers across the U.S. and Canada that are leading global innovation. This subset of 20 technical occupations is known as “Tech Talent” and these professionals are the ones that have made it Read More >

There is something slightly soul-crushing about the news that the Government is mulling a new digital sales tax to ‘save the high street’. It isn’t just the prospect of ministers raising the cost of living for online shoppers at a Read More >

With zero cases of Covid-19 in the community, New Zealand is one of the very few countries where life has returned to normal. After two months of lockdown, the country's property market is demonstrating healthy market dynamics on its road Read More >

Have you stopped beating your wife? Yes or No? This is the classic question that condemns you as a wife beater, regardless of your answer. Now, welcome to the new world of “systemic racism.” Are you still benefiting from your “white Read More >

Another speech from Downing Street will not turn around the economy – a vaccine will.  In mid-July, Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave a speech suggesting that employers start bringing their staff back to work. In the coming weeks I Read More >

The R rate has become synonymous with the COVID-19 pandemic.  If R is above 1, infections rise exponentially, if R is below 1, the virus eventually disappears. The impact of online spending on retail rental growth is also Read More >

In August 2018, Greta Thunberg first began skipping school to protest outside the Swedish parliament. Almost two years later, her fame is global; everybody knows her name, climate activist or climate change denier, politician, or Read More >

Macrobond Household Index Euro Area: Consumer confidence survey results for April 2020: -22Lowest number since survey started: -24Expectation of becoming unemployed in next 12 months: 62 (High) Household gross total income in Q4 2019: Read More >

Zillow and Trulia in 2014. Immowelt and Immonet in 2015. When massive real estate portals join forces, it is for one reason: market power. These mega-mergers of leading real estate portals highlight the power of market dominance through greater Read More >

As we sift through the data, we found a few pleasant surprises. So far we have had housing market data for April and May, and only a very limited look at June. April’s lockdown and the rollback of social distancing measures over May generated Read More >

UK electricity sector The ongoing debate on climate change has been overshadowed as of late by the global pandemic and its resulting worldwide economic recessions. Yet it also comes back to a conversation about the consumption of energy as it Read More >

Availability and quality of London’s public realm have long been a focus of much debate –and admittedly much collaboration–between the private and public sectors, policymakers and communities. But the current pandemic raised the bar Read More >

Examining how successful entrepreneurs have grown and scaled businesses can give us insights that we can be easily replicated. This should mean businesses can survive for the long term.  Let me explain. The Harvard Business Review Read More >

After the shock of COVID-19, the U.S. industrial market is expected to bounce back stronger than previously forecasted. In fact, demand will more than triple the previous forecast based on new metrics that CBRE Econometric Advisors has Read More >

Each month we present some statistics in the raw from Macrobond. This month UK and US lending and house prices. United Kingdom: Total amount of household loans outstanding in April 2020: 1.77 trillion GBP Change since same period Read More >

NOW GDP is the cumulative amount we all earn through the course of 12 months, it is a flow, and must not be confused with the total value of assets across the UK, or our stock of wealth. With these differences in mind let us compare and contrast Read More >

We would be forgiven for thinking that we are all doomed if you read all the press at the moment.  However, hidden amongst the gloom spewed out through the BBC and other blood thirsty press reports, was a chink of some hopeful, if not Read More >

UK Automotive Industry Like all industries, the UK automotive sector has been negatively affected by the global pandemic. While a disruption to a highly efficient supply chain is damaging in itself, in some cases the coronavirus has Read More >

Why understanding the sequence of investment returns is so important For investors, the order in which returns arrive can make the difference between success and failure. Imagine you are saving for 25 years (perhaps to help  your Read More >

SUPPLY/DEMAND In recent years, industrial demand in the Puget Sound region of Washington State has been insatiable. Driven by our two major ports, Washington is the most trade dependent state in the country. Major companies are REQUIRED to do Read More >

Netflix has added twice as many new subscribers as it expected during lockdown. I am one of them, signing up to watch “The Last Dance”, a documentary based on Michael Jordan’s final season with the Chicago Bulls. I loved the series, Read More >

As the number of cases falls and social distancing measures are relaxed, there is a palpable sense that we are entering a new phase of the coronavirus pandemic. There is a risk, of course, that as the lockdown restrictions become less severe, Read More >

Michael Levitt is Professor of computer science and structural biology at Stanford Medical School and winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in chemistry. He has been a close observer of the pandemic and the response from the outset through its movement Read More >

The policy response to COVID-19 has been extreme by most past standards. A simple look at the data tells us where we are concerning the past. What caused this response - I will not venture to explore - but at the root of it all must have been Read More >

It’s a bit of a bold statement, but before we talk about why, let’s first of all go through what’s in it.  The black line is my composite valuation indicator for treasuries, and it’s showing them just over 2 standard deviations Read More >

When your ideology states that climate change is the most important thing facing the world and some pesky pandemic has the poor judgement to interrupt The Cause, you need to act fast. There must be something that connects the pandemic back to my Read More >

‘Unprecedented’ has been the watchword of the Covid-19 crisis that has engulfed 2020, presenting one of the biggest health and economic challenges the world has ever faced. For investors it has put to the test a quip of Sir John Templeton, Read More >

The S&P 500 has dropped considerably since the advent of COVID-19 although well off the lows.  Although the economy is slowly starting to open up, it seems inevitable that we will have at least a short-term Read More >

As the world grapples with COVID-19, it has become apparent that many lives and sectors of the economy will be affected for many years to come. While the prediction of the nature and magnitude of the impending transformation might not be a Read More >

The spread of coronavirus has required us all to change our behaviour. One of the most significant shifts as far as property is concerned is the abrupt switch to home working by most office employees. The majority have found this a smooth, Read More >

Many landlords, tenants in house-shares and neighbours of anti-social tenants will be filled with despair at the latest news that there may be a three-month extension to the current three-month moratorium on evictions in the private rented Read More >

Over just a few months, Covid-19 has disrupted almost every corner of the globe. In the residential market, this has led to transaction numbers drawing to a standstill in many countries as lockdown measures prevent sales. In Savills Research, we Read More >

There aren’t many things capable of uniting hardline climate sceptics and the sort of far-left environmental activists you might find at an Extinction Rebellion rally. However, Planet of the Humans, a new documentary by Jeff Gibbs which Read More >

The law has been quick to react to the current health emergency. First of course came the Coronavirus Act 2020, given Royal assent and commencing on 25 March 2020. The Act made contained multi-various provisions to deal with the pandemic in Read More >

There will be no reversion to the norm – much retail property will keep losing value. But the sector can be better than ever, thanks to proptech A recent conversation with a large retailer went like this: “The market is tanking, Read More >

An inevitable consequence of the Coronavirus will be the acceleration or magnification of existing trends – be it towards home working or the intensification of the shift from physical to online shopping. Doomsayers who have portended the high Read More >

The go-to tool for puncturing outlandish conspiracy theories is Occam’s razor, the principle that the simplest explanation for something is also the most likely to be true. For example, maybe Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne’s departure Read More >

According to the old Sufi tale, a man and his son lived in a valley. They were happy but very poor and they wanted desperately to change this. So, feeling entrepreneurial, the man decided that he would breed horses. With money borrowed heavily Read More >

Coronavirus, the Euro, the EU and Brexit: all are becoming inextricably intertwined. This can be seen with contagion of a separate sort threatening the EU’s – and thus the world’s – financial order, as the economic impact of Covid-19 Read More >

Cycling to Success As I was growing up, one of the quirky delights of the weekend was listening to Alistair Cooke’s ‘Letter from America.’ I’m sure at the time I barely understood what he was opining on but somehow the combination of Read More >

The world has been pretty dire in recent weeks.  Seemingly out of the blue, the hard-earned gradual improvements that is human affairs came to a sudden chaotic stop. At times, this looked like the movies: ceased production, abandoned Read More >

This post argues that the new Governor of the Bank of England is wrong to address the Bank’s role in the crisis through the prism of traditional ‘price stability targeting’. Rather, the Bank’s duty and task is to support the Read More >

The last few weeks has seen a great deal of ideological navel-gazing; from the end of globalism to the cancellation of capitalism, pundits are convinced this time is different, everything has changed, and once the dust settles they’ll have Read More >

It is axiomatic of crises that things happen too quickly for decision makers to be able to plan ahead. Well they better be planning now. Desperate measures, little different to those used 102 years ago, have bought governments a second Read More >

It is generally perceived that as you build up your credit history, financial portfolio and investment experience, you’ll be better positioned to access and successfully receive new forms of debt. The reality, however, is far more complex. The Read More >

As I write on the 31st March, the reported number of global active cases of Covid-19 is around 786,000 with 37,500 dead. The number of dead is rising fast but still only equates to 0.0625 per cent of the 60 million deaths each year Read More >

The Covid-19 crisis is approaching its economic peak. Most Western economies are largely closed. Stock markets have been in freefall for several weeks, and may yet test deeper lows. Companies are in shell-shocked reaction mode, scrambling to Read More >

Data is either structured or unstructured. Structured data is neatly arranged in rows and columns, like a spreadsheet. Unstructured data is messy and disorganised. It shambles towards us as PDFs, Word documents, presentations, open-ended survey Read More >

On November 1, 2005, President George W. Bush held a press conference in which he called for draconian measures and $7.1 billion in spending to stop the spread of H5N1 Avian flu, which was then starting to cause some panic.  “The Read More >

In 2009 the GFC, which was responsible for severe asset value losses, resulted in a large funding gap between the debt position and the asset value. As this was essentially negative equity, fund managers were often struggling to attract either Read More >

Of course the MIPIM should have been cancelled earlier. When the decision was finally taken by Reed MIDEM, the fair organisers, large swathes of the gathering’s registered attendees had already taken the decision not to travel to Cannes for Read More >

Rishi Sunak was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer on 13 February 2020. The MP for Richmond in Yorkshire succeeded Sajid Javid, and he could not have wished for a more turbulent start to his tenure. At the beginning of the year the focus Read More >

A matter of weeks ago, there was only one story in town: Brexit dominated everything. Now, the same is true once again, but with all eyes focused on the coronavirus outbreak. In fact, the global pandemic has reached a level of salience Read More >

After decades of predictions, warnings, wagers, prophecies, and what must be many trillions of dollars expended upon short sales, long puts and written calls, hedges and directional bets of every sort: the long-awaited “big Kahuna” – a Read More >

During 2019, the average capital value of prime residential properties across world cities remained flat, averaging an increase of 0.1%. This was down from 2.6% for 2018 and continued the slowdown in growth seen since 2016. The slowdown Read More >

No one can accurately predict how long the Coronavirus will last or when effective vaccines can be rolled out, so all we can do is speculate, based on some logic and our past experience with SARS, which seems less serious and less deadly than Read More >

CBRE’s latest research into Asian outbound real estate investment has uncovered some compelling new insights into buyer behaviour and their markets and assets of choice. Firstly, Asian buyers are spending less on overseas property. Outbound Read More >

German family offices are looking to increase the proportion of their investments held in residential property to around 40% by 2025, says a new report by Catella Research. Investor focus is steadily shifting from offices to higher-risk sectors Read More >

The Department for International Trade has now set out the UK government’s strategic objectives for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US. After all the negativity about Brexit over the last few years, this paper is a welcome breath of Read More >

The government has released a policy statement outlining, in broad strokes, what its new points-based immigration system, due to come into effect next year, is going to look like. As anticipated, the biggest change is that freedom Read More >

The British finally left the European Union last month. Ahead, in the negotiations, there will be much blood, much gnashing of teeth, and the devil will indeed be in the details. But, for the moment at least, the mood is of relief, that there is Read More >

The real estate market in Dubai (or for that matter, the entire Gulf Cooperation Council countries, which includes the UAE – Abu Dhabi and Dubai – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman), has not been a happy place to be invested in Read More >

Full Employment Liquidity Trap" may sound like an oxymoron, but this phenomenon does exist in Japan, Europe and in many other places. For example, both Japan and Germany have been stuck in a liquidity trap, where interest rates have fallen Read More >

The Law Commission has now (on 09 January 2020) published its much awaited paper on reform of our system of leasehold enfranchisement, the process by which tenants who own their property on a long lease can extend the lease or purchase the Read More >

It seems like every few weeks, a British minister says in no uncertain terms that there will be friction in the customs and administrative procedures between the UK and EU. Such pronouncements are followed by howls of anguish from the business Read More >

The issue of wage growth is something we have found ourselves returning to time and time again. The cause is in one sense very simple there has been a lack of it. There are two components of this of which the first is just simply low numbers but Read More >

5 decades of Moore’s Law (which states that computing power doubles every 18 months) means that in the 2020’s we will experience change at a pace that makes the current decade seem positively sluggish. A Trinity of Transformation, involving Read More >

It's the time of year when my loyal half dozen readers expect a missive from the far end of the world. Usually a disaster, natural or man made accompanies my travels and this time is no exception.  The ghastly 'White Island' horror Read More >

The coronavirus epidemic may be centre-stage for epidemiologists and other health professionals right now, but it is unquestionably also a political economy event in China with important repercussions for the rest of the world and financial Read More >

The inspectors who certify new UK homes as safely built aren’t apparently liable if the homes are defective. This can’t be right. How safe are our homes? This is a question with a tragic resonance these days as the public inquiry into the Read More >

Modern authors who decide to liken Donald Trump to Nero or Brexit to the fall of the Roman Republic sometimes incline me to reach for what I’ve come to call my “Bad Classics Klaxon”. Often, all they’re doing is showing how clever they Read More >

Farming uses too much land, thanks to wasteful practices and inappropriate incentives. Let’s plant trees and save the world instead Woodland has a most remarkable effect on the climate, both at the extremely local level and as an essential Read More >

It’s Davos time, which also means it’s time for Oxfam’s annual whine about wealth inequality and how ghastly everything is. It would help more than just a little bit if the organisation had bothered to understand the world around Read More >

The inter-generational transfer of wealth is a trend that has taken many analysts by surprise. With the asset-rich, baby-boomer generation slowly approaching retirement, their children and grandchildren are set to inherit an unprecedented amount Read More >

UK average house prices have risen by over 160% in real terms since the middle of 1996. Home ownership remains around its lowest level for a generation. Among political leaders, policymakers and commentators there is a broad consensus that these Read More >

A different model is poised to take over the British market, with brands that are personal rather than corporate If you are looking to buy, sell, let or rent, how important is the brand or reputation of the agent you deal with? And is that Read More >

Hyped-up, high-profile risks can distract from more serious but mundane threats to business Social media and the 24-hour news cycle are putting businesses at risk as hype-up threats distracts from more genuine ones. Business risk assessment Read More >

The Gloomy Outlook for Returns & Pension Funds This research note was originally published by the CFA Institute’s Enterprising Investor blog. Here is the link. SUMMARY The outlook for US equity and bond returns is low based on Read More >

It wasn’t just Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party that lost the 2019 election – fiscal conservatism and proponents for small government took a hammering too. All the main parties promised increases in government expenditure, and most were Read More >

The real estate industry has a lot to learn about human behaviour and happiness: dissatisfied occupiers won’t stick around.  Richard Thaler, the behavioural economist, received long overdue recognition when he won the Nobel Prize for Read More >

Banning Airbnb investor units, as Boston has done, reduces market values by up to 40% – but should other social goals dominate? Recently Boston decided to ban Airbnb-type rental units, suggesting that the growth of such short-term rentals Read More >

Yes, the S&P 500 has soared ahead of the FTSE All-Share, but beware its overstretched valuation ratios. It’s always best to get off the bull before it turns into a bear For a long time, the US and UK stock markets were more or less Read More >

As the global commodity price cycle begins its downward swing, Russia is set to be hit hard, forcing Putin to reassert himself – unless the West acts first The impending worldwide recession will act as the final stage in the decline of Read More >

If the property boom-bust cycle has permanently come to an end, what will that mean for investors? I have previously written about the impact of low interest rates and quantitative easing on the Japanese economy in the 1990s and 2000s and how Read More >

Could this year be an inflection point for three key structural trends in the UK and European real estate markets? The evolution of the European real estate markets is increasingly being influenced by structural trends, in particular the Read More >

Policies, events and innovations intend to deliver predefined goals or solve existing problems, but unintended consequences often determine the outcome. Hence traders thrive on spotting unintended consequences and taking positions before the Read More >

With so much capital chasing anything with a decent yield and without excessive risk, property remains attractive – but are these shares as cheap as they look? The property sector has enjoyed a 10% rally over the last few months, advancing Read More >

The rise of co-working and northshoring, along with increased infrastructure investment, are benefiting regional cities at the expense of London While continental European real estate has become ever more expensive since the Brexit Read More >

Anyone under the age of 40 will have little experience of the nationalised British Rail and few people know which parts are now in private hands and which parts are either completely nationalised or are tightly controlled by the Department of Read More >

I just read a piece in Urban Land Magazinetitled "ULX: Smart Buildings." Smart in the UK typically means fashionable and expensive.  In the US, it's clever or intelligent. It would be great if a building met both Read More >

Risk sentiment has improved further during the last month as the heightened recession fears that built over the summer are gradually getting priced out. Global equities have risen back towards their January 2018 highs, led by the US market; and Read More >

Imagine a British election that’s not – first and foremost – about Brexit. Given the one we’re having right now it’s tough, isn’t it? There are younger voters, now in their early 20s, who have gone to the ballot box a handful of Read More >

This morning has seen the first set piece speech of the new ECB President Christine Lagarde and it would not be her without some empty rhetoric. The idea of European renewal may, for some, elicit feelings of cynicism. We have heard it many Read More >

This is the first in a series of articles covering some of the predominant issues regarding financial and economic statistics. This post seeks to introduce why and how statistics matter for investors.  The Why is simple: Read More >

At face value, high quality purpose-built units – complete with gyms, communal areas and concierge services – would appear to offer what the rental market has long demanded. Whilst still in its relative infancy, build to let and co-living Read More >

Sometimes economics and financial markets provoke a wry smile. This morning has already provided an example of that as Germany’s statistics office tells us Germany exported 4.6% more in September than a year ago, so booming. Yes the same Read More >

Introduction The world can be viewed through the lens of economics and real estate markets in that whatever we do requires space, and whenever processes change it has both positive and negative impacts.  You show me a more Read More >

After all the uncertainty in the UK we will have some sort of progress in that we will have an election putting the voters at least briefly in charge. Whether that will solve things is open to debate but let us take a look at what the economic Read More >

Today has brought a flurry of information on the state of play in the UK housing market as we wait to see how the slow sown in house price growth is developing. We start by noting that according to the official series things may have changed a Read More >

The credit crunch era has seen some extraordinary changes in the establishment view of monetary policy. The latest is this from the Peterson Institute from earlier this month. On October 1, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government raised the Read More >

Britain’s housing crisis is unique in the Western world: in the 1970s, the average buyer needed under three gross annual salaries for a house. Now they need over seven. In my recent book Raising the Roof, co-authored with Jacob Read More >

A recent legal case proves such restrictions on land are not necessarily an obstacle to development Restrictive covenants on land can rob it of development value, burdening a potential site with limits on use and effectively handing control Read More >

Today I wish to address what is one of the major economic swizzles of our time. That is the drip drip feed by the establishment and a largely supine media that inflation is good for us, and in particular an inflation rate of 2% per annum is a Read More >

Short on London, long on Europe was the traders’ cry after the referendum – but things didn’t quite work out as expected Three years on from the referendum, we still cannot fully apprehend the effect of Brexit on the European real Read More >

Even if your commute has been undisturbed by their antics, most of us will have heard about recent antics of Extinction Rebellion (XR). Indeed, since Monday of this week, several thousand “uncooperative crusties” – as the Prime Minister Read More >

In September, parent company WeCo pulled its IPO and announced that Adam Neumann would step down as CEO, as the conflict of interest between Adam Neumann’s funding requirements and Softbank’s valuation concerns came to an end. Here, we look Read More >

For the first time ever, September’s UN General Assembly Meeting included a high-level meeting on universal health coverage (UHC), a broad initiative to promote policies that lead to better health outcomes. The unprecedented advances in Read More >

My personal collecting habits go back to the early iteration of Panini football sticker albums. Before the days of internet and easy access to ‘missing’ stickers, the endless frustration of yet another Glen Hoddle or my fifth Peter Shilton Read More >

On 28 August, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced he––with the Queen’s approval––was going to suspend Parliament between 10 September and 14 October. The decision has been seen by many as an attempt to move the UK one step Read More >

It’s not such a crazy question. For the last hundred years or so – as long as aircraft have been an important part of economies – governments have claimed ownership of the airspace above our heads. Individuals or corporations may own land Read More >

Although the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility for last week’s attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil processing plant, the audacious operation looks like the handiwork of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is Read More >

In the 34 months since November of 2016 the U.S. unemployment rate has declined -1.2% through August 2019. Across the counties that President Trump campaigned in, the average decline has been roughly -1% (through July 2019).  In Read More >

As We Co, the parent of flexible office provider WeWork, prepares to now IPO later this year after postponing its September launch, many in the property industry are still struggling to define WeWork: is it a competitor, a client or just a Read More >

We all know the classic four categories on the risk-return graph, Core, Core+, Value-Add and Opportunistic. These investment strategies are widely used, but are also arbitrary as investors define Core, Core+, Value-Add and Opportunistic Read More >

Today marks 80 years since the UK and France declared war on Nazi Germany following the invasion of Poland. Much is rightly said about the heroism of our armed forces, and the doughty attitude of civilians.  Perhaps less heralded is the way Read More >

With shorter construction times and cheaper manufacturing costs, are prefabricated homes set to become a trend that developers and investors alike should pay attention? The REalyst investigates whether modular homes are indeed becoming valuable Read More >

As the global economy slips into the deep pit of despair, many market commentators are crying out for global central banks to wake-up and save the day. While many are intensely commenting on policymakers in Washington and the Global Trade Read More >

At Property Overview I teach people the basics of property, and how the industry, like any other, is in a constant state of change. In my consultancy work this topic is even more prominent, and I would say urgent.  Companies, CBRE Read More >

How did WeWork get such a high valuation if its making such big losses?  After some debate in the office and lots of commentary from various talking heads about the subject, I sat down and read the company’s S-1 filing and kept reading Read More >

Those who live in glass houses may not have enjoyed a recent verdict. But legal protection for privacy has not been weakened – quite the reverse. You will probably have read in the newspapers about the flat owners in the all-glass Neo Read More >

Having spent the first part of July in Shanghai and Hong Kong the differences between these Chinese mega cities are stark. Shanghai with 23 million people dwarfs Hong Kong’s population of 7.5 million. It is also less crowded and Read More >

Recent retail woes have been well-documented. The resulting retail restructurings and administrations have also hit headlines with increasingly frequency.  We know the number of retail restructurings has spiked, but are they changing in Read More >

“In general, life is better than it ever has been,” P. J. O’Rourke wrote in All the Trouble in the World. “If you think that, in the past, there was some golden age of pleasure and plenty to which you would, if you were able, Read More >

Fifty years ago today, Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins took off from Cape Canaveral in a Saturn V rocket as tall as a football pitch is long. Five days later they stepped out onto the surface of the moon, the first Read More >

In some quarters the proposed solution to Britain’s housing problems is lots and lots more social – ie below market rate – housing. For the more extreme, this should mean local councils building, owning and renting out the dwellings. As Read More >

We’ve sized up the opportunity in the suburbs and analysed the resurgence of the commuter town.  In this article, the REalyst weighs in on the facts and figures, looking at how suburban demographics are shaping the rental market on Read More >

‘Liquidity is an important metric to consider in the context of identifying a financially secure investment and then being able to trade that investment easily.’ Russell Pointon, director, consumer and media. What is liquidity? There Read More >

With 10,000 BTR homes already in London and a further 9,500 under construction, it is no surprise that the rental market is decidedly focused on communal living. As such, property developers need to play the long game: no longer solely Read More >

Why high-net-worth individuals are struggling to secure mortgages   It might seem counterintuitive to some, but high-net-worth (HNW) individuals often face difficulties when securing mortgages. In February 2019, Butterfield Read More >

With so much negativity around CVAs, are they the only answer?  Increased footfall, falling unemployment and rising wages meant that the stars should have aligned for the UK’s high street retailers in the first quarter of 2019. Yet Read More >

The number of people leaving the capital hit a 10-year high in 2017, with 292,000 people deciding that they had enough of the Big Smoke. With much talk of London affordability and sizing-up opportunities in the suburbs, are we seeing a Read More >

Fifteen years ago this month, on May 1, 2004, the European Union welcomed eight new member states. The “Eastern Enlargement” saw Eastern European and Baltic countries join the EU. Since then, other countries further to the east like Romania Read More >

Last year I was asked to give a presentation on the challenges facing Western policymakers. We ranged widely across a depressing set of subjects, from stagnating incomes to inequality, public sector austerity, job insecurity and the rise of Read More >

On Friday, Uber will aim to raise as much as $9 billion on the New York Stock Exchange in an IPO that could give the ride-hailing company a market valuation of nearly $90 billion. What is expected to be the biggest US IPO of the year so far has Read More >

Summary:  Last summer saw 44,740 ‘new builds’ constructed in the UK - a 12% increase to the previous quarter. But, does this indicate a seasonal pattern in the property market? The REalyst digs deeper into the data to determine the Read More >

A recent Supreme Court case in the UK could have a serious impact on some long-term investors’ plans Not every legal case is relevant to property investors, but be assured this column is devoted to showcasing only those recent decisions Read More >

One of the great success stories of the modern world has been the sustained increases in life expectancy we have seen in recent decades, and which are projected to continue for the foreseeable future. The fact we are living longer, healthier Read More >

The millennial generation are ever so different, apparently.  As they grow up, we’re told, an intergenerational shift is underway. Those under the age of 35 not only think differently to the rest of us, claimed Matthew d’Ancona Read More >

The Centre for Social Justice recently released an in-depth survey of people across Britain that found family breakdown was one of the most significant determinants of poor life outcomes. When someone experiences trauma in childhood, linked Read More >

‘Cash is king and the cash flow statement is arguably the most important of a company’s three main financial statements. We explain the relationship between profit and cash and how cash management is vital to keep companies in business.’ Read More >

‘China’s decision to stop importing waste materials from Europe for recycling has brought the problem of dealing with refuse into sharp focus. Waste-to-energy technology offers the potential for not only disposing of rubbish but using it to Read More >

For the last decade, central banks in developed countries have been pursuing policies designed to raise inflation. Quantitative easing, cheap funding for banks, tinkering with yield curves, low and negative interest rates – all aim to raise Read More >

Recent declines in US government bond yields have led to a flood of articles discussing the likelihood of a US recession over the next 12-18 months. This is understandable, first given the relatively strong correlation between yield curve Read More >

Today is Venice’s birthday. According to legend, the city was founded exactly 1,598 years ago today. A small, independent trading state beyond the reach of any overbearing European power, it flourished for many centuries. Young Venice not Read More >

It’s estimated that as many as 12 million metric tonnes of plastic waste enter the oceans every year.The consequences are grave: such volumes of litter are destroying life, both animal and plant.  As a business that’s Read More >

While the UK’s impending exit from the European Union may have dampened demand in UK property, particularly in the City, the same is not uniformly true elsewhere, and this year is nevertheless set to be strong if European investors are Read More >

In my last two pieces for CapX, I sketched out the miserable existence of our ancestors in the pre-industrial era. My focus was on life in the city, a task made easier by the fact that urban folk, thanks to higher literacy rates, have left us Read More >

Introduction Amidst a backdrop of political and economic uncertainty, 2018 was a turbulent year for UK capital markets. BDO’s six-monthly analysis of the UK’s key markets (click here to view the AIM insights and the Main Market Read More >

The outsourcing firm Capita doesn’t seem to have done very well in its Army recruitment contract, according to a scathing report from MPs. This is actually one of the advantages of outsourcing to a private sector organisation, being Read More >

Housebuilders Make Money This week saw three of the biggest housebuilders in the UK deliver increases in the number of homes they built and the profits they made. Bovis sold 3,759 homes; Taylor Wimpey 15,275 homes and Persimmon 16,449 homes Read More >

There is much to commend mediation as a process – speed, costs savings, privacy.  But there are two other important benefits.  The first, is the opportunity to design a process that encourages constructive dialogue in Read More >

Austerity, welfare, pensions – all our fiscal dilemmas could be easily solved by printing money. This is the conclusion of a fashionable strand of macroeconomics called Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) — but does it stand up to scrutiny? At Read More >

This past holiday season, as with many other times of the year, the difference between making or losing money online came down to one thing for many retailers: How effectively and efficiently they handle returns of merchandise. Returns are as Read More >

Summary: Will overseas investment into UK property continue at the same rate as recent years as we career towards the Brexit deadline? Our REalyst analyses the future of overseas investment into UK properties and weighs up the Read More >

The equity rally is likely just the start of a volatile adjustment to a new fundamental reality. “Investors who sit out now could miss a chunk of this year’s returns.” Those were the last words that I wrote in one of our CIO Weekly Read More >

Supermarket Income REIT (SUPR) reported strong H119 earnings growth on the back of its growing portfolio, contracted RPI-linked rental uplifts, and well-controlled costs. The Q219 DPS was increased by 3.2%, in line with RPI. Rental growth also Read More >

As the political, financial and cultural centre of the United Kingdom, is London too dominant? This report explores how London's relationship with the UK has changed and sets out new thinking on how the capital can better connect with its nation Read More >

The availability of German real estate has fallen, illustrated by a 5.3% year-on-year decline in 2017 residential permits. Since then, there has been little to no movement, with the German Federal Statistical Office reporting a 0.5% increase in Read More >

Ghana’s strong economic growth forecast Ghana is considered one of Africa’s leading lights due to its wealth of natural resources, democratic political system and dynamic economy. Successive peaceful political transitions over decades have Read More >

“With all the caveats, P/E is likely to remain near the top of the list of commonly used valuation measures for a wide range of, though not all sectors. It embraces complex considerations within a simple formula. It has an intuitive validity Read More >

The recent decision by a Chinese court to sentence Canadian Robert Schellenberg to death has led many international observers to claim that the decision is a political one, part of Beijing’s ongoing diplomatic pressure campaign against Canada Read More >

If only we could see it, the Iranians attempting to cross the Channel in small boats are paying us a compliment. They have decided they would rather try to make a new life here than in France or Germany or Sweden. They are risking life and limb, Read More >

Even the optimists among us would have to admit 2018 was a challenging year. The fractured world that became the focus of the World Economic Forum’s 2018 Annual Meeting a year ago came under further pressure from populist rhetoric and rising Read More >

In the week of the annual rail fare rise, this year at the higher rate of measured inflation, writing in defence of Britain’s railways is a brave — or perhaps even foolhardy — endeavour. It’s certainly true that recent news hasn’t Read More >

Retailers will seek to cap a strong year this holiday season by doubling down on strategies to draw online shoppers into stores, reward their loyalty in new ways and ensure that toys are available at every turn. Retailers worldwide are riding Read More >

Railways were big businesses long before the creation of the Big Four after World War I (London, Midland & Scottish, London & North Eastern, Great Western and Southern). Compared with firms in other industries the railway companies were Read More >

The rush of investments into real estate in Hong Kong throughout the past century has led to extensive urbanisation. In December 1972, following an era of rapid new-town development in the previously neglected New Territories, the government Read More >

Two long leasehold flats in two different blocks in London. Two elderly tenants in dispute nominally with their respective management companies, but in reality with their neighbours, who would bear the cost of any dispute through increased Read More >

Alex Green, a retired railway operating executive who spent much of his 35 year career with British Rail on the West Coast main line, has responded to the article It's not too late to scrap HS2 by Madeline Grant.  Well - what gloom and Read More >

It’s no secret that ambitious public infrastructure projects often end up running monumentally over budget. Recent transport history is littered with such examples, like the Jubilee Line Extension in the late 90s, which exceeded initial Read More >

The publication last month of the Government’s White Paper on the future relationship between the UK and the EU grabbed headlines for the immediate political fallout. But the document, a product of the heated discussions held by ministers at Read More >

It’s amazing the capacity some policy wonks have to identify a problem and then come up with a completely wrongheaded solution. So it is with the latest report from the Housing and Finance Institute. The authors insist that rather than cutting Read More >

I never meant to ride for Deliveroo. When I moved to London last July to work as an economic researcher in a new startup firm, I thought that was my career up and running. But life can take strange turns: by October I was out of a job and looking Read More >

When there is an obvious problem that needs fixing – and even when there isn’t – politicians relish rolling up their sleeves and getting involved. Sometimes it works: gold-plating EU requirements for maternity and parental leave, for Read More >

Britain’s blistering heatwave has created a record-breaking demand for the treat that, over the course of the last century, has become a summer favourite the world over: ice cream. Sales have increased 100 per cent year on year, and London is Read More >

Pakistan’s valuable ecosystems are vulnerable to unsustainable use and destruction. Like many developing countries, Pakistan is exposed to “the catastrophic convergence of postcolonial militarisation and ethnic fragmentation,” and may soon Read More >

The July 2015 Budget, the first truly Conservative Budget for 18 years, gave British retailers quite a shock. The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that from April 2016 all employees aged over 25 years would need to be paid what he termed a Read More >

Bashing forecasts and forecasting seems to be in vogue lately. Not only have recent years seen a number of political upsets, but the current World Cup has seen similarly notable surprises (and not just England winning a penalty shootout). But Read More >

At a time when the world’s two largest economies are engaged in a destructive quest to limit trade between people, any evidence of the benefits impact of globalisation cannot come soon enough. Recently, we got just such an illustration in the Read More >

Last Thursday in Queen’s Square, Bloomsbury a small party was held to celebrate some of the finest architectural designs of the past year. All were by respected specialists in the field and each had been submitted to the Royal Academy for their Read More >

Recently published data for Inequality Briefing found that the UK has nine in ten of the poorest regions in Northern Europe, as well as the richest region in Europe, Inner London. In the 1970s, despite its economic problems the UK was spending Read More >

There is a widening divide in the United Kingdom between those who embrace economic freedom and the so-called “gig economy”, and those who are deeply cynical about it. The Labour Party is led by Marxists, and the Conservative Party has Read More >

Building a new railway in Britain is a herculean task. When Crossrail eventually starts operating at the end of this year, it will have been 75 years since the first proposals were made, and it will have cost the taxpayer tens of billions of Read More >

So, you want to heal the generational divide? Thinktankers and policymakers have been out in force over the past few weeks throwing ideas around about how to shift some of the burden from the shoulders of my generation – the student loan Read More >

Entrepreneurship is widely acknowledged as the basis for innovation, technological advancement and economic progress — and therefore a driving force for improved living standards. Yet there’s little discussion, let alone action, in the United Read More >

No single event attracts more retail real estate aficionados than the International Council of Shopping Centre’s RECon convention, which drew roughly 37,000 people to Las Vegas May 20-23 to discuss deals and the latest retail trends. It Read More >

This week I joined in the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel at an event at magnificent Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. In attendance were many of America’s movers and shakers, including US Vice Read More >

If there is one issue that defines the muddle that the UK and its political classes have got into over Brexit, it is the customs union. An unnecessary saga is ongoing partly because it is misunderstood, often because those seeking economic Read More >

Like many dads-to-be, I’ve been thinking about GDP a lot recently. The arrival of a new human means acquiring all sorts of stuff. I quietly grimaced on finding out we should expect to spend about £1,000 on new baby clobber, a figure presumably Read More >

This year marks 50 years since Stanford University biology professor Paul R. Ehrlich published The Population Bomb. This highly influential book went through a number of editions, sold millions of copies and was translated into many languages. Read More >

The Intergenerational Commission has published its final report and, according to the findings, young people have a pretty raw deal. Young workers are forced to “shoulder huge risks” bearing the brunt of “insecure work”: their chances of Read More >

Following the Great Recession of 2008, income inequality became a focal concern of those who feel that market economy has let them down. In 2011, “We are the 99 per cent” became a unifying slogan of the Occupy Wall Street movement. In 2013, Read More >

A quantum leap in the development of technology has been seen over recent years. The convergence of rapid technological advancements and urban planning is driving an evolution of human behaviour, and encouraging us to reconsider the way that we Read More >

Socialism is extremely in vogue. Opinion pieces which tell us to stop obsessing over socialism’s past failures, and start to get excited about its future potential, have almost become a genre in its own right. For example, Bhaskhar Sunkara, Read More >

The Resolution Foundation’s depressing claim that one-third of millennials face renting their whole life has made headlines today. But the think tank’s report also contained the encouraging — and unsurprising — revelation that countries Read More >

Some time ago, I confessed to CapX readers my unease about pricing cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. I wasn’t alone in my hesitation: New York University finance professor Aswath Damodaran has voiced scepticism that assets with no cash Read More >

New warehouse supply has reacted robustly to the current strength of demand in Europe. As a result, completions have recently reached nearly double the levels at the height of the last cycle. We address here whether there is a risk that future Read More >

It’s tempting, even popular these days to claim that e-commerce is wiping out traditional retailing. It’s also wrong. The demonstrable reality is that online and in-store retail can coexist quite nicely, even beneficially with e-commerce. Read More >

Following the publication of our regional Crane Surveys at the end of January, we were pleased to report on unparalleled scale and volume of development as a result of significant investor confidence in the UK regional cities demonstrating strong Read More >

The market for warehouses and distribution centers in the U.S. and elsewhere is on an incredible, multiyear run. Don’t expect that to abate any time soon. The primary reason that this market has so much momentum remaining: E-commerce has Read More >

MedicX Fund is a specialist REIT. Like its peers, Primary Health Properties and Assura, it invests in primary healthcare property, focusing on modern, purpose-built primary healthcare assets. The key features of this specialist market are long Read More >

Circle is an internally managed property investment company, registered in Jersey. It was initially founded as a limited partnership in 2002, became a Jersey Property Unit Trust (JPUT) in 2006, and has been quoted on AIM since February 2016. Its Read More >

Edison Investment Research is a leading independent investment research firm. We aim, in these articles for The Property Chronicle, to bring to a wider audience the sort of analysis normally only available to big investing institutions. Each Read More >

Animals’ bassist Chas Chandler saw the potential in an unknown black American guitar player called Jimmy Hendrix, when others didn’t. Quickly, Chandler assumed the role of his first ever manager and brought the virtuoso to London in 1966. Read More >

The Peak District became the UK’s first national park on 17 April 1951; albeit the National Trust owns a 12% minority. Geographically, it forms the southern end of the Pennines and much of the area is uplands above 300 metres (984 feet) with a Read More >

Other than the results from the big names in the sector, the theme of the past few weeks seems to have been fundraising, especially in the alternative space. This has been an encouraging trend and shows there is life beyond the prime office and Read More >

The movie of the same name - and subtitled ‘the Far Side of the World’ - is a 2003-made epic which is set in the Napoleonic Wars and stars Russell Crowe. It received wide critical acclaim on release and, at the 76th Academy Awards, was Read More >

Image (c) iStockphoto Do foreign investors know something we don’t? Since the Brexit vote last June we have seen a number of assets snapped up by foreign investors, driven in part by the weakness of sterling since the referendum. In the Read More >

Featuring

Investor's Notebook

Smart people from around the world share their thoughts

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The Macro View

Recent financial news and how it connects across all asset classes

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Technology

Fintech, proptech and what it all means

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Uncorked

A sideways look at the world of wine

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The Architect

Some of the profession's best minds

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Residential Investor

Making money from residential property investment

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The Professor

Analysis and opinion from the academic sphere

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Face to Face

In-depth interviews with leading figures in the real estate/investment world.

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Money, rates and prices

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Political Insider

The inside scoop on Washington, Westminster and Whitehall

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The Agent

Reflections on estate agency, today and in past times

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Alternative assets

Investing in tangible assets

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