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This article was originally published in July 2022. Review: Paper City, directed by Adrian Francis In his first feature-length documentary, Adelaide-born director Adrian Francis offers a rigorous understanding of the American firebombing of Tokyo via survivors’ perspectives. In a brutal attack nearing the end of the Second World War, on March 9 and 10, 1945, around 100,000 Japanese civilians were killed. Many burned to death; others threw themselves into the nearby River Sumida,... Read More >

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This article was originally published August 2022. There has been a significant decline in union-led strike action in the 21st-century UK. But with average public sector pay increasing by 1.5% between March and May 2022 (versus 7.2% in the Read More >

This article was originally published August 2023. The coronavirus pandemic inevitably prompts thoughts of previous pandemics that have afflicted this country. In terms of the proportion of the population that died, and its social, economic, Read More >

Originally published May 2023. Innovations in fractional ownership and use of space Fractionalisation means many things to many people. Shares in REITs, syndicates, tenants-in-common, even land subdivision and strata title are all Read More >

Originally published May 2023. H2 2023 At the time of writing (March 20th 2023) the news is dominated by the recent collapse or rescue of a number of banks. It remains to be seen how this story will develop. However, initial signs are that Read More >

Originally published May 2023. Many use experience and expertise interchangeably, but they are different. While experience comes from exposure to a particular field, expertise develops when that experience is refined, codified, and Read More >

Originally published July 2023. Another instalment in a series of articles detailing how to design a secure, income-producing portfolio. It was in the most unlikely of locales that I first learned how to win with hard assets. The year was Read More >

Originally published July 2023. Some listed Propcos are now a "buy" and here's why... It is ironic that the thing the listed property sector seems to need more than anything else right now is a jolly good recession, isn't it? There are Read More >

Originally published July 2023. The professional classes are currently, and rightly, obsessing about the impact that AI will have on the service sector as ChatGPT gets exponentially smarter. The current iteration of ChatGPT - the most popular Read More >

Originally published May 2021. In the early 2000s, before the financial crisis, a debate dominated central banking: whether central bankers should try to reign in financial bubbles in what was called ‘lean against the wind’. That is, over Read More >

Originally published March 2021. David Baddiel’s polemic Jews Don’t Count has proved surprisingly controversial. He seems to have gone out of his way to rile political opponents – mostly antisemites, and their enablers and Read More >

Originally published February 2021. In a year of ‘special advisers’ falling on swords, the tale of Thomas Becket, martyred on 29 December 1170, can read like an overdramatized telling of Dominic Cummings’ resignation – sacrificing Read More >

Originally published March 2023. This August marks 75 years since the partition of the Indian subcontinent. British withdrawal from the region prompted the creation of two new states, India and Pakistan. The process of transferring power Read More >

Originally published June 2023. Whenever you ask a golfer what caused the great boom in golf in the 19th century, the most common response by far is “the railways.” But the actual answer is not so straightforward. The boom in golf in Read More >

Originally published in March 2023. A crisis that did more good than harm. The further it recedes into history, the more the abdication of Edward VIII seems like a fairly minor blip in the history of the modern British monarchy. Yet it was Read More >

Originally published May 2023. Do not write off the office You may be forgiven for thinking that some people have forgotten how to wear trousers. Headline after headline for the past three years declaring that working life is now just one Read More >

Originally published April 2023. In one of financial history's key observations, Howard Marks warns, "we must never forget about the inevitability of cycles. Ignoring cycles and extrapolating trends is one of the most dangerous things an Read More >

Originally published February 2021. For investors, the recent decline in retail property performance might suggest opportunity for acquiring property at distressed pricing. The challenge for such investors is to identify discounts associated Read More >

And where PRS and PBSA are. Originally published January 2022. Across Europe, residential property is typically an emerging institutional asset class. Although at the national level, as is the case with many things in the ‘old world’, Read More >

Originally published December 2022. Investors should be concerned about socio-political development in China as it has profound economic and geopolitical implications that will reverberate around the world. The acts of public defiance in Read More >

Originally published October 2022. How it could elevate role of Vietnam and robotics in global supply chain China’s population reached 1.45 billion in 2022 and is forecast to plateau around these levels early next decade, according to Read More >

Originally published May 2023. Emergence of new currency blocs will change everything There is a growing feeling that the economies of the west are going through some form of Paradigm shift, but that it isn’t going to be the one Read More >

Originally published June 2023. When the shōgun of value investing in Japan says "jump," my only possible response is "Hai, sensei! How high?” So, it is no coincidence that when the oracle of Omaha, Buffett-sama flagged Japanese trading Read More >

Originally published June 2023. Is anyone else uncomfortable with the recent legal judgement that says the Ministry of Defence (MOD) can enfranchise 8 “test properties” from the portfolio that it “sold” to Annington over 25 years Read More >

This article was originally published in October 2019. Saying I favour a no-deal Brexit in order to buy property cheaply after a resulting crash was wrong – and illogical. Newsnight is a programme I have watched for years, with a great Read More >

Originally published June 2021. What do you mean, which boat race? There is only one: the Oxford Cambridge Boat Race on the Thames. The Boat Race experience is binary. Seven months of training alongside academic work, six days a week, Read More >

Originally published February 2021. A novelist in our post-God world where ideology has so often replaced faith, and where the very value of truth and what constitutes betrayal (that most Christian of themes) becomes a moral Read More >

Originally published February 2021. Messing about in boats, you come across all kinds of creatures – but it’s not the wild ones that chew your ear off. Beavers do extraordinary things. While paddling canoes down the River Tay this Read More >

Originally published June 2021. Our farms can be both wildlife-friendly and efficiently productive. Nirmal Purja, on completing his unique winter climb to the summit of K2, reflected that “Mother Nature always has bigger things to Read More >

Originally published September 2021. Why preserving the irreplaceable benefits everyone and especially moths. The names of moths are a delicious smorgasbord of rich imagery. Our evenings are festooned by Dusky Footmen and Ruby Tigers, Read More >

Originally published February 2018 Willie Gething, managing partner of Lennox Investment Management, helped to pioneer the residential buying agent business in the Thatcher years, sold his company Property Vision to HSBC in 2001 and 11 years Read More >

Originally published November 2017. Veritable housing soothsayer Tony Pidgley turned 70 in August, and in September, Berkeley was re-admitted to the FTSE 100 for the second time - its share price hitting a new all-time high. Mr Pidgley’s Read More >

Originally published April 2021. Proptech is not new: a conversation with (above, from left to right) Jim Young, founder and CEO of Realcomm, Michael Beckerman, CEO of CREtech, and Matt Ellis, CEO of Measurabl. Biographies Jim Young is Read More >

Originally published May 2023. Since March, we have experienced three of the largest bank failures in United States history. Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and New Republic Bank had combined assets worth over half a trillion Read More >

Originally published May 2023. Of the great many motives for one ‘labouring a point’, despite a backdrop of derision and dismissal, most are far from great. Of these, the most disagreeable is an unyielding stubbornness even when reasoning Read More >

Working from Home in the USA. Originally published in May 2023. “I haven’t been back to the office since COVID,” has become a commonplace response among US employees when asked about their day-to-day work commute. In 2019, 6% of US Read More >

Originally published March, 2023 in The Astronomy Cafe. Thinking ahead to the 22nd seems no more of a challenge than what we had in the 1960s when we considered the mythical 21st century. But one thing is for certain, we had no idea that the Read More >

This article was originally published April, 2023 in The Astronomy Cafe. Over the years I have collected a number of online tools that help me keep climate change in perspective. Here are some of my favorites! Flooding risk areas. Dark Read More >

Originally published May 2023 in The Astronomy Cafe. I have often wondered how the modern description of the Big Bang could be written as a story that people at different reading levels would be able to understand, so here are some Read More >

Originally published October 2017. My first column for The Property Chronicle offers a welcome chance to reflect on matters beyond the moment. Which is useful as learning from the past enables us to design for a building’s uncertain future. Read More >

Originally published June 2017. There was a feature on TV this week about the grotesque golf trophies that the unfortunate professional is forced to model in front of the cameras should he or she triumph on tour. These ranged in design from Read More >

Originally published May 2017. I first came across ‘Zaha’ when I was a student at the Architectural Association (known as the AA) in the early 1990s. She was always known just as Zaha. She never required a last name as everyone knew who she 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 >

Challenging the opinion that only the wealthiest can buy Banksy art This article was originally published in August 2019. Banksy’s art hit the headlines in October 2018 when a piece of artwork self-destructed in the midst of an auction. Read More >

Pricing vintage comics isn’t just about scarcity and quality – the characters are the key to value. This article was originally published in November 2019. “Comic books to me are fairy tales for grown-ups.” So said renowned Read More >

Back in May 2022 I penned an article about the challenges of promotion to the National League. Despite the pleasure and satisfaction of winning the National League South title in style, I wrote, reality was about to hit home in the form of the Read More >

Originally published in September 2020. The answer is clearly no. I asked the question to get your attention and, perhaps, surface prejudice. It irritates me that property management or PM comes such a distant second to letting in the Read More >

Originally published August 2017. About 30 years ago I remember my stepfather, a well-known man of considerable standing, surprising me by telling me I was in a ‘gentleman’s profession’. OK, he was quite old, but amongst the next Read More >

Originally published October 2020. For those about to emerge from university and enter the world of property, a few words of advice. As we enter 2020, I find myself engrossed in the new Star Trek series, ‘Picard’. Its central theme, Read More >

This article was originally published in October 2020. Though the smaller format has a shorter shelf life, it provides the benefit of maturing faster – and is often the perfect amount. I am still finding it very hard to wean myself off Read More >

Tasting notes on the harvest. I scrawl the following words towards the end of May, having recently returned from a week in Bordeaux… Now, there’s a phrase that hasn’t appeared in print for a while – over three years, to be exact. And Read More >

Don’t let the percentages bother you, says this writer 1979. Margaret Thatcher came to power and the USSR invaded Afghanistan. I certainly recall both events, but I think that Nottingham Forest beating Malmö FF to win the European Cup had Read More >

There’s a fun game to be played with The New York Times’ coverage of British crime. It’s very simple and you can play along at home: how many paragraphs will it take the paper to tell you what the sympathetic victim of the legal Read More >

Not if it can generate income… Originally published July 2022. Mostly confined to cyberpunk and tech circles prior to 2021, the metaverse has since experienced breakout attention and entered the common vernacular. Not all of this has Read More >

How algorithm managers are taking over the office. The 1999 cult classic film Office Space depicts Peter’s dreary life as a cubicle-dwelling software engineer. Every Friday, Peter tries to avoid his boss and the dreaded words: “I’m Read More >

...and how to stop them stealing your chips. On a summer’s day at the beach, the sound of seagulls is part of the ambience. But what about when they’re in the middle of a city, or when they’ve just taken your lunch? Not a lot of Read More >

Write anything about housing and you’ll usually be hit with a classic non-gotcha: "What about empty homes?" What about those supposed millions of properties that lie unused? Surely all we need is to allocate those homes and our housing woes Read More >

Housing has been one of the most essential services consumed by human beings and real estate has been a key store of wealth. Houses are a large proportion of household wealth, serve as a key collateral for bank lending and play a central role Read More >

Property as safe haven in downturn. As I reach the officially designated twilight years of my career, the recent burst of inflation in the UK and the upward shift in bond yields brought memories of my early days, emerging into the world of Read More >

A look at the mathematician and his tables. In over 35 years of public speaking, I have made audiences grimace, laugh and, I hope, develop their understanding of the world of property. Yet, this summer, I mentioned an antiquarian book Read More >

How they work and the implications.  Part 1: the economics Recently, a colleague posted an opinion on social media that he would stick with his gas-powered Mustang, stating emphatically that the economics of EVs do not yet pan out. He Read More >

Originally published September 2020. Do Americans “vote with their wallets?” This near-ubiquitous cliche seems at first to pass the test of common sense. Why wouldn’t people vote for the candidates under whom they’ll do the best Read More >

Joe Strummer, lead singer and lyricist for the seminal punk band, The Clash, died 20 years ago this December. Strummer, the son of a British senior civil servant and whose real name was John Graham Mellor, wrote songs that did not shy away Read More >

Originally published May 2021. Local property prices were always a good indicator of UK voting habits – but in the past five years, that’s stopped being true. The last few years have been volatile for UK politics. There have been Read More >

We live in a world of virtual reality: virtual conversations, virtual relationships, virtual work, and virtual leisure. Artificial intelligence is on a mission to replace us all with avatars: bright, shiny versions of ourselves. Central banks Read More >

Originally published July 2021. “Let China Sleep. When she awakes, she will shake the world…” This Morning: The media is full of China noise – does the rising tension mean it may become un-investible? The Chinese economy is very Read More >

Originally published October 2021. The returns are still valid. Looking at the global investment landscape today, there is a gaping hole where dependable fixed interest assets used to be. Successive rounds of central bank purchases Read More >

Sports making a racket, 48 up for the Cup and the allure of live Hop to it! Harking back to an innocent 70s youth of balmy summers and winter power cuts, when even Space Invaders had yet to land, a friend gets in touch to sense-check his Read More >

Strikes. The cost of living. The NHS crisis (if it still makes sense to distinguish the crisis from the institution at this point). It’s fair to say that few people looking ahead to 2023 see very much for Britain to look forward to. But Read More >

Why common sense is often the best response . The writer Mark Twain wrote almost 50 books and yet is almost certainly better known for his aphorisms. The pithy one liners that combine folk wisdom and common sense are such that even ones Read More >

Though a correction in values is firmly underway for European commercial real estate markets, we believe the worst is yet to come. This also means the best buying opportunities are not just around the corner. The gradual ramping up of Read More >

Falling property prices and mortgage approvals since last autumn are the start of a sustained correction in the housing market, in our view. An average of the Nationwide and Halifax measures showed prices in January down 3.5% from last summer's Read More >

Insights into how financial contagion changed how central banks react during a crisis. This year’s Nobel prize in economics, known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, has gone to Douglas Diamond, Philip Dybvig and Read More >

Once upon a time there was… Well, an Old World which two-thirds of the UK population – those not into their mid-50s – will fail to comprehend and could not possibly want to live in. A time when if you wanted to do practically anything you Read More >

Time to stop defending the rest of the world. A new year dawns bright, with the US hurtling over the fiscal cliff. The lame duck Congress voted for a pork-packed $1.7tr budget bill. As the saying goes, it’s only money! At a Read More >

Originally published August 2017. Thanks to a successful 40 year career as a property developer and investor, David Lewis has created significant assets, but is better known today for his extraordinary art collection than for his property Read More >

Originally published October 2022. In what follows, I will do my best to remain as sensitive to the calamitous human toll the war in Ukraine has and continues to take. Do my best to do so, in the context of trying to gauge what impact these Read More >

Originally published November 2022. In his quest to ensure that no pound is left circulating outside of the Treasury’s coffers, Jeremy Hunt is attempting to set out some £60bn in tax rises and spending cuts. This is quite a lot of money, Read More >

Originally published December 2022. It began in 1947 as a refreshing new measure, but has long since become a Ridiculously poor price index; unless, that is, you own what it links to and/or happen to like antiquities. It is full of relics we Read More >

This article was originally published in June 2019. It was the first in an ongoing series by our very own Property Chronicle NASA astrophysicist, to make sure we don’t take real estate, economics and investing too seriously and to keep Read More >

This article was originally published in autumn 2019. Temperatures could hit 70ºC in 250m years’ time. Oh, and all the continents will be squished into one. The world is in a state of alarm – and rightly so – at how much damage will Read More >

This article was originally published in May 2019. So that we don’t take real estate, economics and investing too seriously and to keep our daily lives in perspective, here is our very own Property Chronicle NASA astrophysicist and his Read More >

Originally published September 2020. My first visit to Istanbul was part of an architectural tour while studying at the Architectural Association. We were ably led by my tutor, Mark Prizeman, who was a founding member of the avant-garde Read More >

Originally published December 2020. It was my friend and sometime neighbour John Stewart’s recent “Blog 7” which started me thinking about the discrediting of historical buildings as well as historical figures. He was writing on Read More >

Originally published December 2020. Frank Gehry’s cultural centre in the Bois de Boulogne was born into controversy but is now accepted as a phenomenal piece of architecture whose structural gymnastics defy belief. La Fondation Louis 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 >

Originally published November 2021. In recent years, Chinese companies have been substantially increasing their investments in the European Union. From the vineyards of Bordeaux to robot manufacturers in Germany Read More >

Originally published in November 2020. While a good title is no guarantee of a good book, it can act as a guide. Choosing a title is challenging. It is hard to find a memorable word or phrase that not only sums up a work of fiction but Read More >

Originally published October 2022. Part 1: an introduction for investors. We’ve all heard the old axiom: if it floats or flies, rent don’t buy.  So, how does one treat a marina with its innumerable floating Read More >

This article was originally published in November 2020. It’s all change in the residential property market as estate agency business models are reshaped and players come and go. Who will emerge as the winners? A paradigm shift in the way 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 >

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 >

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 >

Originally published September 2021. Building a commitment to egalitarianism on our genetic uniformity is building a house on sand.– Paige Harden Paige Harden is a University of Texas-Austin behavioral geneticist who Read More >

Originally published October 2022. An engaged response to a passing Tweet, ‘Why do we fetishise plain old buildings?’ As someone who has built a business sourcing, acquiring, and adapting a variety of building types over the years, Read More >

Originally published October 2022. After nine years of enticing first time buyers (FTBs) into – and consequently inflating the prices of – new build, help-to-buy (HTB) is finally coming to an end. Over in the wider mortgage market, recent Read More >

Originally published October 2022. In the United States, zoning laws are overwhelmingly local concerns, though heavily influenced by federal pressures, like lending and highway construction. So it’s somewhat novel that the California Read More >

Originally published June 2022. (Even though it might eventually cease to exist.) Japan's death rate exceeds its birth rate, prompting speculation that the country could eventually cease to exist if nothing is done to change this. In Read More >

Originally published 16 March 2021. Being a child in the 1960s was Utterly Brilliant. It was all so exciting – because we all knew we were going to space. The theme music from “Apollo” still resonates. Late at night peering at the Moon, 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 >

Originally published September 2021. This wine connoisseur gives his informed opinion.  Most wine drinkers would probably plump for those made from the ubiquitous Chardonnay grape – French, in particular. Bottles from Burgundy’s Read More >

Originally published October 2021. There are no two ways about it: the French are mad. As a Francophile I feel comfortable in asserting this. Their country is beautiful, they’re deliciously un-PC and their food and drink is the best in Read More >

Originally published September 2022. We continue with the next instalment in the series on Nobel laureate authors, some of whom may not stand the test of time. As the first president of CND, imprisoned several times for his outspoken Read More >

Originally published July 2022. Jonathan Haidt’s latest essay, 'Why the Past 10 Years of American Life have Been Uniquely Stupid', calls attention to concerns related to how Gen Z has been raised. According to Haidt (and previously Read More >

Originally published August 2022. Is history repeating itself? It’s not the first time that Jews have felt it necessary to flee Russia, but the invasion of Ukraine has resulted in the fourth wave of exiles in the past hundred Read More >

Originally published August 2022. Did anyone notice a trend in the residential REITs’ 1st quarter 2022 earnings calls? From a very high level, renowned C-suite executives from some of the top residential REITs across the country had very Read More >

Originally published January 2022. It’s been five years since Neil Turner stepped down from a senior real estate position in the City. He’s been spending time writing fiction, enjoying the Suffolk countryside and the occasional visit back Read More >

Originally published September 2021. If I could summarise my most successful investments in one equation it would look something like this: Cash + Optionality + Astute Capital Allocation = Compounding Machine Good businesses generate Read More >

Originally published June 2021. What is the duration of the present moment? How is it that this present moment is replaced by ‘the next moment’? Within every organism, sentient or not, there are thousands of chemical processes that Read More >

Originally published June 2022. Our writer set out to find out if this is actually true. “Daddy, why are you writing about women’s boobs?” I turn puce as my 11-year-old stares me down. I stay silent and she repeats the question. Read More >

Originally published July 2021. Among the many quotes attributed to Einstein, the following seems most pertinent as we look to the future: ‘'The significant challenges we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that we were at Read More >

What farmers can do to prevent it. Originally published August 2021. Farm vehicles have long been considered an easy target for thieves because of poor security measures, such as universal keys that can be used to start any tractor and the Read More >

A tribute to the American biologist, naturalist andwriter Edward Osborne Wilson. Originally published June 2022. On Boxing Day, 2021, the world lost one of its greatest biologists. Boxing Day was apt, for Edward Osborne Wilson’s Read More >

Originally published June 2021. Prices are too high, availability too low, and the charging network is a dog’s breakfast. Hold your horses – or just get a bike. Tackling climate change makes fixing the pandemic “look easy”, Read More >

Originally published October 2019. Today is my little boy’s sixth birthday. And as I sit here waiting for him to get home from school, ready for the joy and the chaos of his party, I can’t help but smile at his presents and the ever-so Read More >

A stable market is at the root of its appeal. Originally published September 2021. Japan’s relative stability and favourable funding conditions continue to attract international capital. This trend is even more apparent in the increasing Read More >

Why timber buildings may be key in limiting climate change. Originally published September 2021. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report makes for grim reading. It finds that climate change is here, it is Read More >

Originally published July 2022. The public sector is the largest UK landowner and space occupier, with local authorities owning and managing the majority of the real estate assets to meet services to the community. As central funding of these Read More >

Originally published July 2022. It is likely that all readers know that WFH means 'work from home', VR is virtual reality and crypto refers to various crypto currencies like bitcoin and ethereum, and BIM is 'building information modeling' and Read More >

Here’s what it revealed about sentience. Originally published June 2022. Nay, nay, I say! This cannot be,That machines should e'er surpass our art.We are the masters, them the slaves,And thus it ever shall be so!They learn, ‘tis true, Read More >

Originally published March 2022. There are some schools of architecture which are so ‘avant garde’ that actually proposing an architectural solution to an architectural brief is deemed to be far too conservative and more than a little Read More >

Originally published March 2019. The early history of the Caribbean (and especially Barbados) is well told in the book Sugar Barons by Matthew Parker. Even by the cruel standards of the time, the descriptions of the treatment of Read More >

Originally published December 2017.  The Barcelona Pavilion, by Mies van der Rohe. Over many years of working on numerous projects, I have always drawn inspiration from the work of some of the great architects from the past (borrowing Read More >

This article was first published in May 2018. Investing is usually a matter of judgment as well as calculation. What will do well, and what will do best over the period you envisage?  Investing in books -- or art of any kind -- includes Read More >

Kicking off a three-part series on proptech, in its very widest sense, let’s look back first of all to the Stone Age. Originally published December 2020. Urbanisation has been a key driver for technological breakthroughs. But what was Read More >

In a sector where outdated practices are a matter of life or death, providers need to value their buildings in a way that recognises health technology. Originally published June 2021. If 2020 taught us one thing, it’s that global Read More >

Originally published December 2021. How uninvited guests can bring unexpected delights Farmers are apt to rail against uninvited people on their land. I am no exception, yet the farm would be a poorer place without them. ‘The Read More >

Originally published April 2022. Land prices should now out-perform other asset classes, especially when compared to their underperformance during the previous period of deflation, argues this writer. In November I suggested that inflation Read More >

Originally published March 2022. UK house prices have been in a bubble for almost 20 years, which makes it one of the longest-running bubbles in history. This is very interesting, because bubbles almost never last this long. Read More >

Originally published January 2022. It’s time to widen the net. Social changes accelerated by Covid-19 are shaking the property investor community to its core as risks increase from investing in traditional ways. This is important to us Read More >

Originally published April 2022. Long-held assumptions about rising house prices are being shattered by the affordability crisis. When Nigel Lawson described the NHS as “the closest thing the English people have to a religion”, his Read More >

Originally published June 2022. The UK’s commitment to deliver net zero by 2050 risks more than a cost of living and energy crisis. By 1 April 2027, it will be illegal to lease a commercial property with an Energy Performance Certificate Read More >

Originally published July 2022. Just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, I moved to the city for what proved an intense and life-changing experience. Last week I travelled there for the first time since Covid, starting and ending in the Read More >

Originally published May 2022. Economists have shaped the modern world in many ways. Governments make policy choices in response to the data that we produce about things like GDP and inflation. Social media companies use our insights about Read More >

Originally published June 2022. How the metaverse may impact on the real world. Sweat streaming down my face, I landed a punch straight into his midriff. The force of the blow sent him stumbling backwards. Now was the time to finish this. Read More >

Originally published 6 July 2022. Having claimed the UK will avoid such a fate, I want to explore whether Continental Europe can avoid falling victim to recession. To do so I consider 10 channels through which the recession virus could spread Read More >

Originally published October 2021. If there’s one thing you hear constantly in finance and investing, it’s stay liquid. That bit of advice is so common that most investors, from the smallest to the largest, tend not to question it. But Read More >

Originally published March 2022. Today, insurance, social security and modern medicine help us cope when something bad happens. As we manage risk in our day-to-day lives, we can afford to take fewer precautions than our forebears. They faced Read More >

Originally published May 2021. Institutional investors in Europe face a housing supply problem – but America has already found the solutions Despite the trauma of the 2008 global financial crisis, real estate has experienced Read More >

Originally published October 2021. Since Epcot’s inception, millions of tourists have descended upon the theme park famous for its Spaceship Earth geodesic sphere and its celebration of international cultures.  But the version of Read More >

Originally published March 2022. Write anything about housing and you’ll usually be hit with a classic non-gotcha: "What about empty homes?". What about those supposed millions of properties that lie unused? Surely all we need is to 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 gaining momentum and the future pipeline is likely to raise the top prices equivalent to those seen in Manhattan and London. Originally published June 14, 2022. Tokyo’s ultra-luxury residential market has continued to grow on the Read More >

Where modern office work began Originally published March 2022. I love coffee. I love spending time in great cafes. So I have always been curious about the numerous plaques around the City of London marking the site of 17th-century Read More >

Originally published May 2022. On 7th May, our football club, Maidstone United, were crowned champions of National League South (NLS), English football’s sixth tier. Maidstone last achieved promotion to the National League (NL), English 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 >

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 October 2021. It shows just how hard it will be to reach net zero. As the world prepares to discuss more aggressive cuts to carbon emissions at the UN’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, China 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 >

Originally published October 2018. The population of our big cities is projected to increase significantly by 2040. But physical growth is constrained by green belt, and  these boundaries are unlikely to change significantly by 2040, given Read More >

The rise of big tech stocks has been more about valuation than profits. Originally published January 2022. Ruffer LLP A bubble in profitless tech and so called ‘meme’ stocks may be bursting in front of our eyes. But, so far, Read More >

Originally published March 2022. It’s been five years since Neil Turner stepped down from a senior real estate position in the City. He’s been spending time writing fiction, enjoying the Suffolk countryside and the occasional visit back Read More >

Originally published October 2021. Fine wine markets remain a source of stability in an uncertain world. The Liv-ex 1000, the broadest measure of the fine wine market, delivered a 2.41% quarterly return to start 2021, continuing its steady Read More >

Originally published November 2021. The art market has historically been subject to generational shifts. Old Master paintings dominated the market until the 1980s, at which point a diminishing supply of great works saw Impressionist and Read More >

Originally published spring 2019. Collectors may be driven by obsession – but are toys also a viable investment asset? There is a big difference between an investor and a collector. The former gives up capital today in the expectation 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 >

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 >

…and we simply don’t care enough. Originally published October 2021. The publication of the 3,949 page Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis Report in early August elicited many different comments from governments, the media Read More >

Originally published May 2019. If investor confidence was affected by the stock market slides of ‘Red October’, it seemed to have returned with the arrival of spring 2019 and a highly anticipated series of IPOs. Following Lyft’s Read More >

Originally published June 2019. One cynical – but useful – view of modern technology is that it allows us to play through the scams and mistakes of the last few millennia at warp speed. Bitcoin and associated cryptos have gone through Read More >

Originally published July 2019. That the robots are coming for all our jobs is entirely true. That this is a problem is less clear – after all, we’ve been trying to kill off jobs since we first started automating anything at all by Read More >

There is no such thing as an Independent Central Bank. They are all the creatures of the states that own them. To those who thought otherwise the virus is changing the reality and rhetoric. Central Banks and treasuries are working together to Read More >

In June 2020, after 80 days of complete ‘confinement’, I wrote a piece about the “Coronavirus Time Machine”. Inspired by too much lockdown Netflix, the imaginary construct was that the unique pandemic moment could either rewind or fast 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 >

...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 >

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 >

Top players on why joining the Premier League from abroad is so tough. Originally published September 2021. The new football season has seen the return of fans and the return of big money transfers. Ahead of the transfer window Read More >

Originally published November 2021. The UK’s success at the Tokyo Olympics has been a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dismal dank summer. The feel-good effect could be long term – doing well in the Olympics does more for a nation’s Read More >

This writer became peripherally involved in a property scam worth millions. Originally published August 2021. One early spring day in 2016, I was interviewed by the Serious Fraud Office. Fear not: as an informant. You enter the place Read More >

So here’s the thing. Popular economics (by which I mean the sort that someone with a low pass at maths O-level second attempt can just about grasp) suggests that if supply outstrips demand then prices fall. And presumably if there is no demand Read More >

Originally published May 2021. In their desperation to find a reason for why bitcoin is terrible-bad-destructive-awful and morally reprehensible, the crypto-obsessed authors of the Financial Times blog Alphaville – Jemima Kelly, Jamie Read More >

Originally published February 2020. London has become synonymous with innovation, especially in the decade following the 2008 crash, which arguably marked the beginning of the city’s upward trajectory in tech. Buoyed by support from Read More >

Originally published December 2021. During the Great Lockdown of 2020, les Echos reported the touristic town of Cannes was one of the five places in France worst affected, alongside Disneyland and Paris CDG airport. Last week, after two years Read More >

Originally published November 2021. It has been said and written with such earnest despair to have become practically axiomatic: 22 will prove a year of acute pressure on household finances across the UK, the first year of what could prove Read More >

Originally published January 2022. As investment managers, we’re used to being accused of seeing the glass as half-empty rather than half-full. It’s not that we’re inherently pessimistic, but our job is to protect our investors’ Read More >

Originally published October 2021. The founder of modern economics, Adam Smith, was no fan of the merchants of his time. He regarded them as among the most responsible for how “the mercantile system”, as Smith called it, accorded legal Read More >

Originally published October 2021. A decade to be optimistic? Somewhere amid the carnage of the retail sector, the existential navel-gazing of the office sector and the irrational exuberance of sheds, meds and beds (where investment yields Read More >

Originally published November 2021. At the onset of the pandemic, plenty of the trade-offs that societies were asked to make were of a generational flavour. Young people were asked to give up their immediate dreams, their friendships, their Read More >

Originally published November 2021. Back in the mists of my own pre-history, I was given the The Big Book of Egypt on an early birthday. It was full of drawings, diagrams and maps of excavations. Egypt fascinated me then and still does today. Read More >

Originally published November 2021. What could possibly go wrong? “Africa has a significant role to play in the energy transition. We are home to a third of the world’s mineral reserves and 14% of the world’s forests… Our view is 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 >

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 >

Originally published November 2021. It’s not often that I agree with Donald Trump, but on one thing he is surely right; the UK's new American Embassy in Nine Elms was a “lousy deal”. From Grosvenor Square to Nine Elms was quite a Read More >

Originally published March 2021. The collapse of Greensill involved a predicable cast of unwise enablers, but it should serve as a warning to the growing number of alternative asset buyers on the dangers of complex deals which promise much 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 >

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 >

Originally published January 2021. The European real estate universe grows ever move diverse by the year, with the constant geographical expansion of previous times now replaced by a push into new sectors and, more fundamentally, new ways of Read More >

Originally published August 2021. Hedging your bets. As the rhetoric around inflation has increased, so too has scrutiny around commercial property, an asset class typically perceived to offer an inflation hedge. First, there are Read More >

Originally published August 2021. With the population moving to the US’s South and West, investment opportunities have followed. Nearing my retirement, I am considering some of the investment lessons I have learned along the way. One of Read More >

Originally published May 2021. “Vino treba slugu, a ne gospodara” (A vineyard needs a servant, not a master). This old Croatian saying, which has been handed down by winemaking families for centuries entails the single most important Read More >

Originally published March 2021. Proptech aims to disrupt in multiple ways, but equity markets may hold a clue to the future. This is the third article in our proptech series. The first looked at how to connect finance and property Read More >

Originally published September 2021. Without cyber insurance your business is vulnerable. An IT department received an email from their marketing team stating that they couldn’t access their files mounted on the file-share server. Read More >

Originally published August 2021. How fans create electric atmospheres. Since the arrival of Covid-19, empty seats and eerie silences at sports and entertainment venues have highlighted how much fans contribute to live events. Everywhere Read More >

Originally published August 2021. Why the retail real estate world should take note. In The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway famously writes, “‘How did you go bankrupt?’ ‘Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.’” The quote expertly Read More >

Originally published September 2021. Virtually no one in Washington even pretends to be concerned about federal spending and deficits anymore. The Biden administration is going wild as the US nears the debt-to-GDP record set after World War Read More >

Originally published August 2020. This is the fifth in a group of articles looking at the possible impact of a post-Brexit redistribution of fishing opportunities in the NE Atlantic –  and looks at Germany. It considers the same questions Read More >

Originally published February 2021. The word of this extraordinary winter in Paris has been couvre-feu. The very expression is still heavy with associations from the 1940s occupation, even if the order to “cover your fires!” was Read More >

Originally published April 2021. When thinking about successful emerging market investing, the following quote comes to mind: “In an unfamiliar culture, it is wise to offer no innovations, no suggestions, or lessons.” (Maya Angelou, Read More >

Originally published November 2020. I don’t like repeating a story that brings any disrespect to the Beatles, especially one so clearly unlikely as the exchange attributed to John Lennon when asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the Read More >

Originally published January 2021. With the government under pressure to tackle the UK homes shortage, social housing offers yield opportunities to high-net-worth investors. As a developer in the North of England dealing in high-volume but 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 >

Originally published May 2020. An exogenous crisis hit the world, followed by a stunningly fast disruption of the global economy. Political decisions led to the closing of business, to numerous bankruptcies, to ramped-up production in Read More >

Originally published March 2021. Plus, reassessing the relationship between UK interest rates and REITs. This article was originally published in June 2019. The perceived wisdom has always been that reducing, and indeed low, UK interest Read More >

Originally published June 2021. As space requirements fall for offices and retail, residential will fill the gap. Much of the reflection on post-pandemic shifts in property has been focused on individual sectors, but how these interact Read More >

The FTSE 100 and S&P 500 are trading at very different valuation levels. US and UK large-cap investors have had very different experiences since the crash of 2009. Over these 12 years, the FTSE 100 more or less doubled, going from a low Read More >

But what challenges await the US and the wider world? Over a year after the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the world and crippled economic activity, a recovery is underway. The consensus among economists is for the recovery to be strong, Read More >

The Biden administration may yet rue its tax and spend agenda. Writing a year ago, during the uncertain early days of the pandemic, we predicted that the US government would come to the rescue of the private sector in a manner that was likely 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 >

Originally published September 2017. This November I clock up 50 years as an estate agent - and what have I learnt or gained from this experience? Well, I have tried alternative business options over the last five decades but still Read More >

Originally published September 2017. This November I clock up 50 years as an estate agent - and what have I learnt or gained from this experience? Well, I have tried alternative business options over the last five decades but still Read More >

This article was originally published August 2017. About 30 years ago I remember my stepfather, a well-known man of considerable standing, surprising me by telling me I was in a ‘gentleman’s profession’. OK, he was quite old, but amongst Read More >

Poland offers attractive investment possibilities post-Covid. We have now undergone a year and half of unprecedented interference in all aspects of our lives including, of course, in business. In an attempt to combat the serious consequences Read More >

The battle between inflation hawks and doves is heating up. The year-over-year change in the Consumer Price Index is 5.4%, significantly above average. This figure, from the end of July, comes after several months of economy-wide price Read More >

Originally published March 2021. Free hugs? I know it sounds incredible, but there was a time when they were available in public spaces! As we all plan our post-lockdown freedom, inevitably we question ‘What will our workplace look like?’ Read More >

Originally published June 2021. In this very special series of exclusive articles for The Property Chronicle, Australian property legend Norman Harker reflects on his extraordinary 50-year life in real estate. He will pull no punches partly Read More >

Originally published April 2021. This year, a Paris property pioneer celebrates 50 years living and working in France. In half a century of developing office properties, the resilient Paul Raingold has navigated many cycles of boom, bust and Read More >

Originally published April 2021. Inflation is in the news again. Many prices are rising even before we can physically get out and spend, and governments are pouring vast amounts into the economy.  Whichever side of the inflation debate 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 >

Originally published January 2021. A few months ago I came up with a simple way to categorise companies and their shares based on their most important attributes. For me, those most important attributes are quality, defensiveness and Read More >

Originally published January 2021. Real estate distress cycles generally offer rich pickings to investors, but that’s unlikely to happen this time – and here’s why. This article discusses the potential path for a distress cycle in US 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 >

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 >

Originally published July 2020. How did the Great Fire of 1666 shape London's architectural history? At this time of year, we are inundated with nostalgic images of a Victorian Christmas set in a Dickensian London where the real horrors Read More >

Originally published August 2017. David Hill begins his series on the status of the horseracing industry. This is the first in a series of four articles on the history of British racecourses providing a context for the existing economic Read More >

Originally published May 2018. Sport. The very fine margins. The difference between winning and losing. The moments that define a career. The moments that define a life. There has been an awful lot of talk recently about FOBT's. About levels of Read More >

Originally published August 2017. How going online has restored the value of second-hand books. As a book dealer, I would like to respond to an article published on the BBC website on 28 December 2018, ‘The booming trade in second-hand Read More >

Originally published August 2017. This is the first in a series of four articles on the history of British racecourses providing a context for the existing economic status of the industry. The recent legislation that all betting Read More >

Originally published December 2020. “I haven’t been to my office now for several months.” “When I go to my office it’s only for a meeting.” “My office is my dining table.” Are the offices so many of us worked in for decades Read More >

Originally published August 2019. Why we need to encourage innovation and holistic solutions to the challenges facing real estate.  “Silo busters unite!” is becoming a slogan here at the Real Estate Institute. We contest that Read More >

Originally published September 2020. Dear development financier, Are you really, truly, aware of the risks you will be taking over the next few years with your residential loan book? You are supposed to say yes. I am supposed to say no Read More >

Originally published 28 January 2020. As UK agriculture faces major funding changes, one important resource should not be overlooked in developing sustainable farming systems Those who remember farming in the decades after the second world Read More >

Originally published 30 September 2020. Matthew Piepenburg and Thomas Lott, two hedge fund managers with Ivy League pedigrees, have issued a stark warning in their latest book Rigged to Fail. Published in February 2020, the book is as timely Read More >

Originally published 12 November 2020. As I write this, we still don’t know who won the presidency. It is, however, time to declare at least one winner. After almost sixty years of fighting, it’s clear that the War on Drugs is almost over Read More >

Originally published in April 2018. Welcome to my sport column – An occasional look at various commercial sides of the sports industry which ultimately deliver the live events we enjoy. The Premier League is the single most valuable cog in 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 >

Originally published in March 2021. Like many readers, I took advantage of the best snow in years to go sledging with my daughters. As Daddy bombed down the hill like Bowser in Mario Kart, my mortality flashed before me and I realised I was Read More >

Originally published in April 2021. Needless to say, covid-19 has caused significant dislocations in all aspects of our daily lives. One of these has been a major shift in working practices. Almost overnight, those of us who were primarily Read More >

Originally published in February 2021. The pandemic has been with us for over a year, infecting more than 100 million people. Although vaccinations have begun around the world, the damage to the global economy is done. According to the Read More >

This article was originally published in October 2018. The returns on most investments are purely financial. But some investments have other rewards. Buying art, for instance, offers the chance not only to anticipate what is going to do well, Read More >

This article was originally published in September 2020. (Oliver is joint-owner of Maidstone Utd FC, Director of Brive Rugby Club in French Top 14 and recent Board Member of The National League.) Right now there is a heated debate on Read More >

This article was originally published in September 2020. While high-tech modern racing vessels can be seductively sophisticated, a classic yacht takes charm to another level.   My absolute passion is sailing. I rather consider my Read More >

This article was originally published in December 2020.. The spring lockdown did not stop UK M&A in its tracks, but activity slowed. Faced with the fog of economic uncertainty, some buyers put their chequebooks back in the drawer, and Read More >

This article was originally published in December 2020. The investor’s dilemma faces all of us: if we don’t invest, the purchasing power of our money will slowly decline; if we do invest, we are exposed to the risk of loss. It results in Read More >

This article was originally published in January 2021. Traditionally, real estate was often viewed as little more than a downside hedge for a diversified portfolio. This reflects its low correlation with equities and bonds and its perceived Read More >

This article was originally published in November 2020. Many farming and food companies are investing or plan to invest in improving the sustainability of food production. This Craigmore commentary, the first in a three-part mini-series, Read More >

This article was originally published in November 2020. Australian is sometimes referred to as the lucky country. While a generalisation, Australian commercial real estate (CRE) has enjoyed strong investment demand from both local and Read More >

This article was originally published in October 2020. 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 Read More >

This article was originally published in June 2020. Market volatility is at an historic extreme.  From a technical perspective, post-pandemic US stock markets are behaving in a manner unseen in price history, making multi-year lows and Read More >

This article was originally published in May 2020. The words we choose are revealing. In an amusement park, small electrically powered cars with rubber fenders all round are driven in an enclosure. Some people call these cars “dodgems”, Read More >

This article was originally published in June 2020. According to the IPCC, we have about 10 years – at current emission rates – before the planet hits the CO2 budget limit consistent with giving us a fair chance of avoiding an average Read More >

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