The news on 2 December will have brought a beaming smile to the person responsible for the morning meeting at the Bank of England. They will have been able to leave all the house copies of the Financial Times open at this page. UK household wealth reaches record high despite economic hit from Covid. Such […]
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 part in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are growing. Non-compliance with the new regulations represents a risk for […]
Olaf Scholz is soon to be sworn in as the new chancellor of Germany after nearly two months of intense negotiations between the Social Democrats (SPD), Greens, and liberal Free Democrats (FDP). It is a complex coalition as the three allies had different – at times opposing – priorities ahead of the elections. On taxation, for instance, […]
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 investing, with an exposure to the operational side of the asset. This has been driven by a […]
Am I availing myself of any old sterling excuse? In the interregnum between voting to leave the EU and actually doing so, I claimed the UK’s final exit would prove largely seamless. And, in being seamless, it would completely remove the weight of uncertainty holding down sterling. My expectation has been for sterling to ‘gap […]
When a clumsy attempt to muzzle German business journalists backfires. 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 general […]
On 23 October 2019, the Russian Federation organised the Russia-Africa Summit to initiate greater cooperation between Russia and the sovereign states of Africa. The summit established a formalised partnership to strengthen existing and potential political, security, economic, legal, scientific, technical, humanitarian, information and environmental cooperation. The Russians argued that this cooperation provided a way for […]
Investors have divided into two camps. Those who believe inflation will subside and the rise in prices will prove temporary, and others who fear we are entering a period of high sustained inflation reminiscent of the 1970s. We consider both scenarios unlikely. Overlay the bottom chart on the top and you would be forgiven for […]
Ignore mediation at your peril. With property disputes, emotions can run high. As my father, who was an architect turned property developer, often used to say, “It’s not the bricks and mortar that’s the problem, it’s the people!” A property dispute may have arisen because of an inheritance, a relationship break-up, a spat with a […]
In this fifth chapter of his professional memoirs, to be published in six parts, Oliver Ash recalls how one of the greats of Paris real estate, Miles d’Arcy Irvine, helped shape his career in the boom of the late 80s. To catch up with the first four chapters, please follow the link at the bottom […]
