Business News Round Up (03/09/2020)
UK property price reach ‘new all-time high’ – Nationwide
Nationwide, one of the UK’s major lenders, states that average UK property prices reached a “new all-time high” in August 2020. As reported by the BBC, the average price increased 2% in August, the fastest monthly increase since February 2004, when it grew by 2.7%. After a slow period of market activity when the UK went into lockdown, demand to buy and sell as restrictions have eased has been “unexpectedly rapid”, says Nationwide. However, forecasters expect a drop in prices again when the economic impact of the virus is felt on jobs. This is likely to coincide with the easing of pent-up demand from lockdown, which is part of the reason for the latest rise in prices.
https://selectproperty.com/2020/09/uk-property-prices-reach-new-all-time-high-nationwide/
KPMG predicts greater contraction of North West economic growth in 2020
The continuing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to see economic growth across the North West contract further than previously thought, according to new data. KPMG UK’s latest quarterly Economic Outlook has reassessed how the landscape could look at the end of the year, having previously predicted a 7.6% dip in June. This has now been downgraded to a 9.4% contraction. However, growth in the North West could pick up to 8.2% next year if a vaccine is rolled out by April, with the economy reaching pre-Covid levels by early 2023. UK-wide, KPMG is forecasting GDP decline of 10.3% for 2020, downgraded from 7.2% predicted in June, with growth of 8.4% in 2021.
Hospitality and tourism face potential 58,000 job losses
More than one in four tourism and hospitality businesses in Scotland could go bust amid the coronavirus crisis, with 58,000 jobs lost, research by the University of Edinburgh shows. The report assess financial statements of 5000 tourism and hospitality companies, which collectively employed 209,000 people in 2019. They estimate a “mild stress scenario”, which would be slightly worse than the impact of the 2008 financial crash, would lead to 28 per cent of firms going into insolvency.
Greater Manchester councils to give ‘urgent’ support to retail and leisure sector under Covid ‘resilience plan’
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has announced it will provide targeted support for sectors facing lasting impacts from Covid-19. The Living with Covid Resilience Plan, announced today, will include ‘urgent’ support for sectors including retail and leisure. The GM Good Employment Charter, which launched in July 2019, is also set to “significantly expand” to drive more secure work, higher pay and better employment standards. The one-year plan recognises that “the pandemic is still ongoing”, but the “building back better phase” of Covid response “needs to start now”, GMCA said. The plan is “an action-led short term plan rather than a long term strategy”, GMCA said, designed as the ‘start’ of the city-region’s Covid recovery.