MORNING NEWS: Blackstone moves to get ahead of real estate’s recovery

Good morning, and welcome to your Friday round-up of news, views and interviews from EG, plus some real estate-relevant stories from the papers. Blackstone is ready to invest in a period of “dislocation” as it bets that real estate values are close to bottoming out. “The recovery will not be a straight line but we’re not waiting for the all-clear sign to invest,” said president and chief operating officer Jon Gray on an earnings call. “We are pretty confident that commercial real estate over time recovers and that foundation is starting to come into place.” Yesterday, EG’s leader column delved into a “WFH versus the office” debate that happened under a LinkedIn post I made about office leasing – as you’d expect, there were plenty of differing views to be heard. Today, GPE’s chief executive has responded to some of the arguments. Read his views here. And real estate players have offered their takes on the Labour Party’s proposed “golden rules” for so-called grey belt development. The consensus: nice start, more to do. All the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals: Blackstone boss: ‘We’re not waiting for the all-clear to invest’GPE’s Courtauld on the draw of the officeHome REIT offloads more properties at auctionLabour’s ‘grey belt’ rules need to be built on, says real estatePlaces for People gets go-ahead for first phase of Margate masterplanMediq homes in on East Midlands Distribution CentreRedevco readies Oxford Street retail and office refurbBlackstone’s real estate revenue risesVita plans PBSA-led regeneration of Glasgow’s India StreetKoba hires operations boss from IndustriousHow northern towns and cities can crack the viability challengeGeneral Projects lodges plans for 185,000 sq ft Shoreditch schemeTaylor Wimpey gets planning for 246 Oxford homesSouth East office take-up surgesPlanners slam ‘awkward’ Brum nightclub redevelopmentSavills nets over £62m from latest two-day saleBNP Paribas hires from Savills for regional development roleSelly Oak student scheme set to be sanctionedDerwent looks to offload Angel officeNatural History Museum gets nod for Thames Valley collections centreHub’s Maidenhead ‘house of wood’ office approvedGene therapy firm expands in Canary Wharf life sciences clusterIMF chief quotes Churchill as she warns of global chaos (£)US billionaire Telegraph suitor to dramatically expand London office (£)Consumer confidence at its highest in two years (£)Grand Designs’ Kevin McCloud says UK property market ‘broken and dysfunctional’ (£)House prices in London hit by high property costs and post-Covid trends (£)