Global house prices soar at fastest pace in 15 years
Average prices rise 7.3pc in the year to March - the sharpest pace since late 2006 - stoking fears of a post-pandemic housing bubble
3 June 2021 • 2:06pm
Global house prices have jumped at their fastest pace in almost 15 years amid fears that markets are in the grip of a post-pandemic bubble.
Average prices rose by 7.3pc in the year to March, according to Knight Frank - their fastest increase since the fourth quarter of 2006 at the dawn of the financial crisis.
The biggest increase was in Turkey, with growth of 32pc compared with the previous year, followed by New Zealand where prices climbed by 22pc. The US came in fifth with growth of 13.2pc, while the UK was 12th with a 10.2pc rise.
Office refurbishments trump new construction as hybrid working era beckons
It comes as officials fret about how to revive previously bustling city centres with fewer white collar workers commuting to and from work
17 May 2021 • 6:00am
New office construction starts in London jumped by a fifth in the six months to March, but more than half of the new projects were refurbishments as companies repurpose their offices for an era of hybrid working.
Thirty-two new schemes broke ground between October and March, according to a survey by Deloitte, with new starts totalling 3.1m sq ft of space in the capital.
However, 56pc of this new pipeline is expected to involve an extensive upgrade of existing workspaces, as bosses prepare for a post-pandemic era where staff spend fewer days in the office.
Capitalism is broken – we need the Government to fix it
Contrived scarcity is putting home ownership out of reach for a rising share of young families
Back in May 2019,
Economic Agenda warned the Western world faced a new “gilded age”. That name derives, of course, from an 1873 Mark Twain novel – which satirised the greed and decadence of late 19th century America.
Twain told of an era of monopolies, exploitation and corrupt links between political and business elites. His coruscating tale was, above all, a warning of what happens when capitalism ceases to work.
For the super-rich, gilded America was about vast wealth, sprawling estates and grotesque opulence. Pretty much everyone else had to scratch out a living, suffering if not grinding poverty, then economic subservience and financial insecurity.