A cursory glance at April’s trade press suggests that most things in Real Estate’s spring garden are rosy: exciting new developments across the country are about to come out of the ground, agents report a strong start to the year with plenty of properties in the pipeline, UK hotel investment is at its highest since the pandemic and inflation is continuing to fall.

But look closer and you can see the potential for tricky conditions underfoot and hidden hazards for the unwary. According to Property Week, London’s West End investment market slumped by 20% in Q1 and the UK construction sector’s output fell by almost 2% in February. The Property Chronicle ran nicely balanced pieces on the Bank of England’s recent warnings for the Private Equity market and on the threats, as well as the opportunities, posed by AI.

We read of the Labour Party’s dramatic new policy (should they win the next election) of releasing “grey” Green Belt development land to boost house building but exactly how these difficult judgment calls on land quality will be made is not yet clear. The devil resides in such detail and who knows what the unexpected consequences of such a policy might be; negative transport, ecosystem and land drainage impacts on existing communities, the blighting loss of visual amenity or the gradual encroachment on, or decline of, future isolated “high quality” pockets of Green Belt land? The idea may be well-intentioned but be careful, Keir, be very careful.