London house prices could be halved by Euro crisis - The economic choice
The recent rush of money seeking a safe haven has pushed the price of luxury London homes up during the recent financial crisis, but this could quickly be reversed if the Eurozone breaks up leaving many with homes worth 50% of what they paid for them.
The research by the property firm Development Securities (Prime Central London: In a Class of its own?) covers seven postcode areas where the average house price is a cool £1.2 million.
The inflow of money into the capital by safe haven investors has pushed the price of PCL property up by 75% says the report, with 60% of them going to foreign buyers. But this could all change should the Euro fail. “A break up of the single currency is perhaps the single greatest threat to PCL” says the report.
Now, if a particular PCL house was worth say £1 million a few years ago and it went up in value by 75% it would now be worth £1.75 million. If it then drops in value by 50% it will be worth just £875,000. That is it will be worth less than the buyer paid for it! The later 50% drop is greater than the earlier 75% gain. Food for thought?
The report argues that the PCL property market is different from the rest of the country for several reasons.
It says that PCL property attracts investors from around the world, including the UK, who would never consider buying in any other part of the country. Because of this 90% of their price movement is caused by “…a combination of: changes in global equity prices; changes in the sterling exchange rate; and changes in those factors to do with risk and uncertainty that underpin the relative attractiveness of sterling assets more widely.”
This means that a Euro collapse, which would bring with it strengthened sterling and a collapse in global equity prices, would ‘undermine’ the wealth of those that would normally buy PCL property. But the report does say that after a time this trend would begin to reverse as the markets began to settle after the turmoil.
Michael Marx, Chief Executive of Development Securities, said “Safe-haven flows associated with fears about a messy end to the euro debt crisis have boosted PCL property prices over the past two years. And yet we end this report by arguing that a break-up of the single currency area is perhaps the single greatest risk to PCL prices. In the worst-case scenario, we estimate that PCL prices could fall by 50% following a break-up of the single currency area.”
Then we could see house prices across the country eventually following suit, despite PCL prices being ‘different’.
Queen's Grove, St John's Wood - by Stephen McKay
Image by Stephen McKay [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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Tags: House Prices, london, News, property
London Underground | Digging the Serpentine Pavilion - New York Times Blogs
The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion has, over the last 13 years, established itself as a must-see architectural event of the London summer season, not only for its experimental structures — which have allowed A-list architects like Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry and Jean Nouvel to realize their first built projects in this city — but also for the glitzy parties and intellectually rigorous event marathons that accompany the structures.
The latest pavilion, which opens to the public tomorrow, responds to the history of previous pavilions on the site (a lawn adjacent to the gallery, in Kensington Gardens) and imagines an archaeological dig through the remnants of structures past to reach groundwater, celebrating the unseen natural water level below the city. Humble but daring, this romantic approach is the result of a collaboration between the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who are known for their design of the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games. (While this is not, in fact, Herzog & de Meuron’s first completed work in London — their Tate Modern opened in 2000 — it is Ai’s first building project there.)
The landscape created by the dig — the interior of the pavilion, which contains seating for visitors and events — is lined in cork to create a soft, surreal environment shaped by the “ghosts” of pavilions past. Eleven columns, each of which represents a previous pavilion (there was no pavilion in 2004), and one that represents the new structure, support the roof, a floating platform with a circular pool of water that reflects the sky (and which can be drained for special events). As in past years, the pavilion will be the site of Park Nights, the gallery’s public events program, as well as its annual Serpentine Marathon, a series conceived by the gallery’s co-director Hans-Ulrich Obrist. A new twist, however, is that the gallery, which has sold past pavilions to recoup the costs of their construction but has never publicly identified the buyers, announced that this year’s pavilion has been purchased by the billionaire Indian steel magnate Lakshmi N. Mittal and his wife, Usha.
The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012 will be on view through Oct. 14.
London 2012 Olympics: Aaron Cook handed reprieve as BOA refuses to ratify British Taekwondo's nomination - Daily Telegraph
The BOA panel found that the selection procedure was flawed and potentially biased. Of particular concern was a sense that Cook’s coach may not have had a fair chance to make his case because he is outside the STUK high-performance programme. It was also concerned that too much weight was applied to a perceived change in the rules concerning head shots, which STUK believe favours Muhammad, but the world governing body says is not a significant change.
The BOA panel called on STUK to give equal weight to all criteria, and said Muhammad and Cook should have “equal and in-person representation before the selection committee, preferably by their personal coach”. It also called on all members to vote.
Performance director Gary Hall said: “It was a very tough decision between two exceptional athletes, but it was made by an expert panel of selectors in line with our selection procedures. The fact Aaron is outside our system had nothing to do with it. Our job is to win medals, so if you do the job you get the call regardless of where you train. We have no problem with Aaron at all.
“In terms of rankings, some people have an ambition to be ranked highly but we don’t chase rankings because the system is inaccurate.”
The England team welcomed fans to the Vauxhall BBQ on Wednesday - FA.com
The England team welcomed fans to the Vauxhall BBQ on Wednesday
On Wednesday evening, following their afternoon on the golf course with journalists and members of the media, the Three Lions ended a relaxing day at the team hotel in Hertfordshire at the Vauxhall England BBQ.
The informal event organised by The FA and Vauxhall, a week before the team departs for Euro 2012, brought together coaching staff and players, along with sponsors, fans, competition winners and selected members of the media, as they prepared for the meeting with Belgium.
"We've talked about The FA and England being a more inclusive, more confident organisation, good tourists and so on," said FA Chairman David Bernstein at the BBQ.
"Today epitomises that. It has been fantastic to see everyone together, the media, the sponsors and others with the players. It's been relaxed. A fabulous day."
Duncan Aldred, Managing Director of England Team Sponsor Vauxhall added: "Best wishes to the whole team. We're all fans, so come on Engalnd and let's have a great tournament."
Check out the video above for a behind the scenes look at the BBQ...
England take on Belgium on Saturday in front of a sell-out crowd at Wembley Stadium giving them a perfect send-off to Euro 2012. For fans not able to be at the game, you can watch it live on ITV1 or follow our updates right here on TheFA.com or via @thefadotcom on Twitter.
London 2012 Chairman sees enthusiasm of athletes on forthcoming Games - Xinhua News Agency
FRANKFURT, May 31 (Xinhua) -- The London 2012 Chairman Thursday said the levels of efforts and enthusiasm among elite athletes to compete at the London 2012 Olympic Games were among the highest he had seen.
He made the remarks at a news conference here with Thomas Bach, German National Olympic Committee President and International Olympic Committe vice president. Bach announced the selection of the first athletes to represent Germany at the London 2012 Games.
Coe said the interest and desire to participate at the London Olympic Games was sky high. The triathletes in Tokyo, runners in rabat, swimmers in Los Angeles and gymnasts in Beijing have an unprecedented appetite among elite level competitors around the world to get to London, he said.
Bach expects an exciting and inspiring atmosphere and brilliant games in London. "On the sport side they will be the stage for the toughest Olympic competition ever," he said.
China and the U.S. will compete for the first place in the medal tally in London Olympics, probably followed by Russia in the third place, Bach predicted. He also added that the U.K., which is the host country of the Games, will probably take the fourth place in the medal tally.
There will be fierce competition for the fifth place, he said.
The news conference was attended by a popular German Olympic gold medalist fencer, Britta Heidemann who told Xinhua that she will try to secure a medal in London, pointing to strong competition from her Chinese and French competitors.
Coe said the Torch Relay is building momentum and excitement is continuing to increase in the countdown to the Games.
"We are on track to provide a memorable welcome that will inspire the athlete and the world," he added.
RFU Championship final: London Welsh 29-20 Cornish Pirates - BBC News
London Welsh sealed the Championship title and a chance of securing a Premiership place after beating Cornish Pirates 66-41 over two legs.
Welsh are now expected to take legal action over the Rugby Football Union's ruling that they are not eligible for promotion to the top flight.
Matt Evans went over for Pirates but Alex Davies' fifth penalty put Welsh ahead before Hudson Tonga'uiha's try.
Ryan Storer reduced the deficit but Jack Moates rounded off Welsh's win.
An RFU report said the Exiles had not achieved the minimum standards criteria to go up but the Richmond-based side are expeted to explore "all possible avenues" to gain promotion after seeing off Pirates in the final.
Having proposed to play their matches next season at Oxford United's Kassam Stadium, where the second leg of the final was played, an RFU statement said that not having primacy of tenure at their chosen ground was one of "various failures" in Welsh's promotion bid.
Three Premiership sides share grounds with football clubs; London Irish with Reading, London Wasps with Wycombe and Saracens with Watford, while Sale will share with Super League side Salford City Reds next season.
On Wednesday club president John Dawes said chairman Bleddyn Phillips would take the "ultimate" action to ensure Welsh do go up .
Having won at Pirates 37-21 last week , Welsh fought back from a seven-point deficit which threatened their first-leg advantage, to secure the Championship title having finished the regular season in fourth place.
Aaron Penberthy's drop goal had put Pirates ahead, Alex Davies then levelled for Welsh before Rob Cook's penalty and a second from Davies made it 6-6.
Evans gave Pirates a clear lead with the opening try of the match, picking up on a loose ball after Cook's punt forward bounced into open space deep in the Exiles' half.
Cook then added the extras before Davies failed with a penalty attempt on the stroke of half-time.
The Exiles fly-half was successful with his next two attempts with the boot after the break, closing the gap to one point and putting the hosts nine points ahead on aggregate.
Davies added a fifth penalty before Tonga'uiha, who had scored in the first leg, broke through the Pirates defence to touch down and Davies then added his first of two conversions.
Pirates responded with a consolation try as replacement prop Ryan Storer forced his way over after a scramble on the line before Cook added the extras.
But Welsh were not yet done as a fine move saw Ed Jackson feed the ball to Jack Moates, who crossed over to add the gloss to their victory.
LINE-UPS
London Welsh: A. Davies, Ajuwa, J. Lewis, Tonga'uiha, Scott, Ross, R. Lewis, Lahiff, George, Tideswell, Mills, Corker, Beach, Denbee, Jackson.
Replacements: Ma'asi, Moss, Bateman, Purdy, Russell, Moates, Jewell.
Cornish Pirates: Cook, Evans, Pointer, Locke, D. Doherty, Penberthy, Cattle, Rimmer, Ward, Paver, McGolone, Nimmo, D. Ewers, Burgess, Maidment.
Replacements: Storer, Elloway, Myerscough, Marriott, Kebsel, Cooper, McAtee.
Referee: David Rose (RFU)
GM's Vauxhall announces new Astra at UK plant - Yahoo Finance
LONDON (AP) -- General Motors' Vauxhall plant in northern England will build the company's top-selling Astra vehicles, the automaker said Thursday — a relief for U.K. politicians who had lobbied its American owner to keep the plant open.
The announcement comes after workers at the Ellesmere Port plant, near Liverpool, overwhelmingly backed a job deal which turned the factory into a 24-hour-a-day operation, a key cost-cutting measure pursued by parent company GM Europe.
GM Europe lost $700 million in 2011 and has been struggling to turn around its Opel and Vauxhall brands. It had been feared the company would close the Ellesmere Port facility in favor of consolidating production elsewhere — such as its headquarters in Ruesselsheim in Germany or Gliwice in Poland.
In a separate announcement, Opel said that the Ruesselsheim plant would switch to producing other models.
GM's announcement — which comes with a 125 million pound (nearly $200 million) investment and 700 extra jobs — is a break for leaders such as British Business Secretary Vince Cable, who fought to keep the British plant open.
Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking from the northern city of Manchester, called the decision "a fantastic vote of confidence."
"The U.K. government gave this its full backing. The unions supported the necessary changes. The workforce has responded magnificently. It is a British success story," he said.
Cable, who at one point traveled to the U.S. to plead the plant's case, told BBC television that no financial inducements were offered to General Motors Corp. to keep the U.K. facility open, saying the move underlined that Britain is "a good business environment for the motor industry."
Production of the new car is due to begin in 2015, with at least 160,000 vehicles scheduled to be produced every year.
London students demonstrate in solidarity with Quebec protests - Socialist Worker
Issue: 2305 dated: 2 June 2012
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posted: 5.41pm Thu 31 May 2012
This article should be read after: Half a million march to defy Quebec's Bill 78 anti-protest laws
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A banner tied to the entrance to the Canadian Embassy (Pic: Nina Power)
As huge student protests continued to rage in Quebec, over 100 people demonstrated in solidarity outside Canadian government buildings in London last night (Wednesday).
The solidarity event, organised by Defend the Right to Protest (DTRTP), began at Canada House in Trafalgar Square with a noisy demonstration. It then wove its way through central London to the Quebec Government Office off Regents Street and the Canadian Embassy in Grosvenor Square.
Over 300,000 students in Quebec have been on strike for three months now against increases in tuition fees. The Quebec authorities have responded with draconian restrictions on the right to protest.
Rachel Harger, a DTRTP activist, told Socialist Worker that students who had protested against tuition fees in Britain understood the experiences of police intimidation and violence.
“People wanted to show support for the thousands arrested on the Quebec protests and those who have suffered injuries from the police,” she said. “Students in Britain received solidarity from around the world when we took to the streets. So it comes naturally for students here to do the same.”
The following should be read alongside this article:
Half a million march to defy Quebec's Bill 78 anti-protest laws
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