Knight Frank Daily Update Monday 18th May
30 million vaccine doses, a property market revival and the future of senior housing
2 minutes to read
Good morning,
Need to know
The number of people who have died in the United Kingdom after testing positive for Covid-19 rose by 170 to 34,636 yesterday, the lowest increase since 24th March. This follows reports late last week that the R-value across England sits as low as 0.75 with just 24 new infections being reported daily in London.
As many as 30 million doses of a vaccine could be made for Britain by September under a deal between Oxford University and the drugmaker Astrazeneca. Meanwhile, just 800 more people need to be recruited to meet a target of 18,000 contact tracers by the end of the week.
This week we'll see the publication of data on unemployment, inflation and retail sales that will paint a clearer picture of how the economy is faring. Robert Chote, chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility, said yesterday that April was likely the nadir of the economic crisis before adding that the government would not need to return to austerity in order to service the debt accrued in recent weeks.
His comments follow those of Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, who said last week that one of the main purposes of the Bank buying £200bn of government debt was to "spread the cost of this thing to society" and help the government avoid a return to austerity.
We'll get more information when Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak faces questions from MPs later today.
US and European stock futures advanced along with Asian equities as investors took some encouragement from signs of businesses reopening across major economies.
The property market
The property market took its first steps back towards normality last week after the government allowed transactions to resume under social distancing rules.
By the end of the week, the number of new prospective buyers registering with Knight Frank had reached the highest level since the second week of March.
The number registering was 39% below the five-year average in London: this compares to a fall of 77% in the first week of lockdown, according to analysis from Tom Bill. In markets outside the capital, the figure was -58%, compared to -84% in the first week of lockdown.
Tom Scaife has this piece on what the future holds for Senior Housing. Topics like infection prevention and control will drive demand and require a look at how new schemes are designed as well as staffed and managed.
Andrew Shirley has the latest news on the Agriculture Bill after MPs voted out an amendment that proposed any food imports would be required to meet the same environmental and animal welfare standards as domestic production.
Finally, you can find an overview of key financial and economic metrics, compiled daily by commercial research colleagues, here.
If you have any questions, please contact me, or the team.