Bright for Britain - My Thoughts On Where We Are Headed

The rather wonderful view from ‘The Gherkin’, taken by me whilst attending a private family office event. This is just one of many landmark buildings which form the architecturally inspiring and burgeoning City of London landscape. As a Londoner I always feel inspired when viewing the unique juxtaposition of old and new buildings in my home city. It is a privilege to live in this amazing city which is, and will continue to be, a global powerhouse. This neatly leads on to the Brexit debate which I am repeatedly asked about in the context of the future of The UK. 

Rather than being an economic catastrophe which seems to be the consensus of the press, Brexit is simply another challenge from which we can draw the best possible results. We have had to contend with other, much more severe events such as the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 which we navigated with aplomb. I do believe that the future for the UK is even more positive than ever. Why? Well, London is ‘THE’ mega city with a unique buzz and sophistication which leads people to return time and time again after working in other cities. This is layered upon so many intrinsic factors including our widely adopted English law, low business friction, an abundance of intelligent and talented people, lack of corruption, low taxes, meritocracy, freedom of speech, free capital markets and proximity to vast nearby natural beauty (try the Surrey hills, Cornwall, the Lake District and Scotland just for starters) which is why I believe we will continue to thrive and prosper. 

As investors, we monitor all sectors and markets and have seen the above factors leading to investment opportunities in a number of areas, both public and private. This particularly applies, we believe, to UK real estate over the next 12 months where we see an opportunity at current subdued pricing levels with future demand driving the growth curve. This is underpinned by a severe shortage of housing and a continued headwind of favourable interest rates which leads us to maintain a bullish stance whilst at the same time battening down the hatches for some interim choppy waters. We are actively seeking opportunities and are seeing global inflows of capital from overseas investors who have also recognised the opportunity and are capitalising on this with an additional sterling weakness ‘rocket booster’ effect.