Knight Frank Daily Update Thursday 28th May
US/China tensions, coloured diamonds and UK banks expand mortgage offerings
2 minutes to read
Good morning,
Need to know
Shares in Hong Kong declined overnight as the US took initial steps to potentially remove the city’s special trade status. The US no longer considers Hong Kong autonomous from China, the US Secretary of State said yesterday. This development followed what had been a day of optimism in markets across the US and the UK, as the S&P 500 climbed to a 12-week high.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said that Brussels remains open to extending the transition period by up to two years. David Frost, the PM's Europe advisor, told MPs yesterday he was working under instructions the transition period should not be extended beyond 31 December.
Yesterday, the European Commission proposed an unprecedented 750 billion euro plan to finance the recovery for all member states. The plan, which still requires approval from all 27 national leaders and their parliaments, would be the first time that the bloc has raised large amounts of common debt in capital markets, taking the EU one step closer to a shared budget.
British employers turned less pessimistic about hiring and investing this month as the government moved to relax its coronavirus lockdown of much of the economy. Measures of business confidence and short term demand for permanent staff both improved.
Hundreds of thousands of people face a tighter lockdown from today after being told it will be their “civic duty” not to leave home for two weeks under a national contact-tracing system.
The property market
This morning Kate Everett-Allen has a roundup of the latest data and insight on key global residential markets.
Until now we have had to focus on real-time economic data and anecdotal comment to understand the impact that Covid-19 is having on property markets globally. The emphasis is now changing as we start to see price, rent and sales volumes data released which covers the period of the recent lockdowns.
The journey back to normality continues in the UK's mortgage market. The number of products available to borrowers has now climbed 14% from the depths of the crisis, though product numbers remain 42% below the pre-crisis peak.
Some 31 lenders said they would continue physical valuations last week. Knight Frank Finance later life finance expert David Forsdyke has an update on what this means for older homeowners.
Chris Druce speaks to agents covering both urban and farming property to find out what the lifting of restrictions means at the coal face.
Andrew Shirley continues to track the outlook for luxury investments with an update on coloured diamonds.
Finally, our commercial property weekly webinar series continues at 09:30 this morning. This week’s edition features Victoria Ormond from our Capital Markets research team, and Faisal Durrani, from our London research team, for an update on the latest macro developments, their implications for commercial real estate investment, and a deep dive into the London market. Sign up to Commercial Conversations webinar.
If you have any questions, please contact me, or the team.