Did you know that there is something called the London Residential Crane Survey?
Me neither, but the latest report – nothing to do with worries over the declining population of garden birds – casts some light on the (to me) puzzling figures for the contribution of construction to last year’s GDP growth.
It’s the Olympics, stupid.
Nearly one third of the new homes being built were in the three boroughs which are host to the Olympic Games. The whole of Inner London saw over half the total homes – mostly flats.
Even the big volume housebuilders were concentrating on London, favouring smaller sites to keep the cash flow going without the risk attached to large scale developments.
No wonder the construction boom was invisible up here & no wonder we were so desperate for the World Cup.
At the same time Savills, the up-market estate agent, has reported that really expensive existing houses in Central London are ever more attractive to the international super-rich – good as gold in fact because of the weak pound.
There is even a new name for this part of London, together with similar areas of New York, Moscow & Hong Kong: Richistan.
