Your Friday Update
Land price opportunity
2 minutes to read
Good morning,
The UK outlook brightens a little...
Leading UK economic indicators are looking slightly more positive as the lockdown eases. Employers have turned positive about hiring and investment for the first time since February. Meanwhile, consumer confidence is holding steady and households have stopped feeling negative about the outlook for their personal finances for the first time since lockdown began.
...as the US economy falters
Weekly US unemployment claims increased for the first time in nearly four months amid signs the world's largest economy is struggling to recover. Shares on Wall Street fell the most in four weeks on the news. The dollar is now down by 8% from its peak earlier this year compared to a basket of major currencies. Meanwhile, Donald Trump cancelled the Florida republican convention as the state surpassed New York for the most known cases of the virus.
Global housing market recovery
With mortgage lending picking up in Europe and and cross-border sales now evident in Asia, there is some positivity for housing markets globally, writes Kate Everett-Allen in our latest Global Residential Outlook. There are however concerns that the economic implications of the pandemic have yet to filter through to consumers’ pockets, so uncertainty will persist in the short to medium-term. For more on property markets in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, Nicholas Holt, Knight Frank's head of APAC research, brings us a new Intelligence Talks podcast on the changes faced by regional real estate markets in the wake of the pandemic, and the trends that will emerge over the next few months. Listen on Apple, Spotify and Acast.
What next for UK developers?
Some housebuilders and developers are increasing their profit margins to reflect increased uncertainty as the UK works on rebuilding its economy in the aftermath of Covid-19. That's feeding into the price of land, with values across greenfield, urban brownfield and prime central London development sites all declining by more than 5% during the second quarter. As a result, vendors seeking to sell in the current market may need to accept a discount, writes Anna Ward.
Meanwhile, higher summer temperatures and concerns around the spread of infections have sent demand for ventilation in new developments soaring. So how are developers responding to the cost implications of these requirements? Knight Frank's Tom Dailey discusses themes from our new 2020 Heating & Cooling Report with Bloomberg and shares his thoughts on the way ahead.
In other news...
How the FTSE 100 plans to return to work.
Hong Kong’s economy just can’t catch a break.
A Britain, EU trade deal by September?
Any questions, please contact me, or the team.