Now that the international property fair MIPIM is in full swing, tongues look set to be wagging as rumour has it that infamous property developers, the Candy brothers, will be showing up after all.
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And what with most reports all calling this year’s event a somewhat sombre (if not sober) affair, it’s hoped that a visit from Nick and Christian Candy might sweeten things up.
One man desperate to sweeten investors up is affable London mayor Boris Johnson, who just can’t get enough of telling the property world about the capital.
According to Property Week, Boris has been (hopefully) inspiring investors with tantalising London facts– such as the lesser known one, that penicillin was invented in Praed St Paddington and that Darwin's theory of evolution was first mooted in Bromley…
However, on a more serious note, the mayor opened the fair on Tuesday with a keynote speech where he discussed his plans to create a new specialist company, whose purpose would be to maintain land in the capital primed for outside investment.
As part of the city’s planning, some of the London Development Agency’s (LDA) land holding will be given to the London-wide housing company.
Boris said: “It is our job to create the right platform to allow you to develop. We are now proposing to create a London-wide housing company, in which the London Development Agency would put considerable land holdings.”
This has sparked controversy amongst those who feel the market isn’t ready to have land released yet, and that further economic recovery is needed to secure higher returns on land.
Jonathan Rubins, director of property finance company Alternative Bridging Corporation (ABC) and our MIPIM correspondent, has spoken from Cannes, saying: “This year has been really different to previous ones, with a huge emphasis on generating business and very little time for the esoterics of previous years. Whereas last year was a funeral, this year is far more positive, albeit tinged with a degree of nervousness over the outcome of the election.”
Switching to the all important social scene of the property fair, Mr Rubins added: “The talk on the boats has been of lean teams completing deals albeit at reduced levels. Last night at a party we debated the nervousness of borrowers caused by theever changing demands ofthe main banks and the oppurtunities this was giving to the specialist banks and short term lenders.”
But so far MIPIM’s not been all about Boris and parties, though you’d be forgiven for thinking that, there have been whispers about the possibility of a double dip recession too. According to City AM, delegates have said that the UK property market is on shaky ground and that as the UK has survived on state funding, any cut could expose the market and bring it into another recession.
“Since the recession all new housing projects have been subsidised by the government, what happens when this is cut?” said Robert Lee, partner at the real estate law firm Davis Arnold Cooper.
Hmmm…more candy?
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