Good morning,
Office landlords are being forced to make leases far more flexible as corporate occupiers rethink their post-pandemic real estate requirements. In what looks to be a bellwether for the new normal, Clifford Chance’s prelet of GPE’s 2 Aldermanbury Square, EC2, has four break clauses for separate slices of the space and almost three-and-a-half years worth of rent-free incentives.
Meanwhile, Michael Gove is considering a series of concessions over housing and planning policy to calm a growing rebellion over the Levelling Up Bill. The levelling up secretary is looking at measures to make it harder to convert new properties into holiday homes, a “use it or lose it” clause for planning permissions, a new residents’ right to appeal and incentives to encourage brownfield-first development.
Home REIT’s 12,000-word rebuttal of Viceroy Research’s claims has failed to calm the market, with its share price falling by a further 9.3% to 50.5p. Its shares were at 77p before the short-seller launched its attack.
The real estate industry needs to make more of its mission and banish the cigar-toting, champagne-swilling fat-cat image once and for all, writes EG’s editor. That is not who you are, but that message is not getting through. It’s time for an intervention.
HSBC has said it will shut a further 114 branches by April, more than a quarter of its remaining estate.
AEW UK REIT has bought a brace of buildings in Bath and Bromley (and, yes, we did only squeeze that in because of the alliteration!)
ReSI REIT’s results reveal rising returns from retirement (ditto).
The EU plans to raise objections to the UK’s freeport regime, with officials claiming they are at odds with the post-Brexit trade deal.
Meanwhile, rich shoppers are shunning London for Europe, Mulberry has warned. It says it has lost 50% of its potential customers since tax-free shopping was scrapped.
New York and Singapore will share the unwelcome accolade of the world’s most expensive city, as soaring energy prices added pressure to systemic affordability issues.
In China, property developers are planning a wave of private placements(£) after Beijing lifted a decade-old ban.
In the US, Donald Trump’s tax returns have been handed over to the Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee.
And finally, Gove may be looking to change the rules on holiday homes, but is hardly surprising that St Ives in Cornwall is so full of them. With its crystal blue seas, enviable landscape, artistic heritage and picturesque harbourside, it has just been declared the happiest place to live in the UK(£). Still, with house prices about £160,000 above the national average, not many can afford to be so happy. Maybe second placed Galashiels, with average prices of just £153,546, would leave you happier in the long run. OK, so it doesn’t have the crystal blue waters, but it does have a big tapestry. Still, any southern interlopers to this beautiful border town may find themselves eating sour plums…
