Good morning.
The chancellor has refused to push through a root-and-branch reform of business rates, while eye-catching cuts will actually only chop £1bn off the annual £25bn rates bill. Yesterday’s Budget committed more money to levelling up and innovation, as the UK tax burden was raised to its highest level(£) since the 1950s.
The belt-tightening(£) will come later.
While there are still concerns that the planned cladding levy(£) will hit investment, there was better news for residential in the Budget, with £1.8bn going to the brownfield fund and a £65m boon to digitise the planning system. But much of the £22bn committed was recycled from previous announcements.
Housebuilders felt a lift on the markets following the chancellor’s speech, with Taylor Wimpey on top with a 2.7% rise. But that was nothing compared to Wetherspoons’ 5.3% climb, as it returned to the good old days of the 99p pint.
But claims by the government that it has reformed business rates are “absolute bunkum”, writes EG’s editor, and the failure to do more than tinker at the edges is a betrayal. Perhaps it’s time we changed the way we ask?
Meanwhile, Moda Living has launched a £1bn partnership with developer Osborne+Co to deliver more than 3,000 BTR homes and 3m sq ft of life sciences space. The first £450m scheme will mark Moda’s entry into the Belfast market.
And EG explores the perks that some BTR developments have on offer, from 50-inch TVs and priced-in utilities to weekly harvests from the podium garden. But are they worth the 21% average premium commanded by BTR flats?
The number of estates paying death duties(£) is set to double over the next five years, raising the tax take to £7.6bn.
Pushing further into the UK mortgage market has helped Santander(£) reap profit of £1.4bn over the first nine months of the year.
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has appointed Deborah Orida as its first chief sustainability officer.
A third of Chinese developers will struggle to repay their debts in the next 12 months. Some $92bn is due as bonds mature. The Chinese government has urged developers(£) to pay their international debts.
Meanwhile, the personal fortune of Evergrande’s founder, Hui Ka Yan(£), has fallen by $25bn over the past year.
The settlement for the divorce(£) of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum and Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein is set to be the biggest in history, and could make her a property billionaire.
RIBA has released its shortlist for House of the Year(£), including a crofters cottage fit for a billionaire, an oast house, barn conversions and clever infills.
And finally, buyers are being lined up for the most expensive house ever to come to market. The bidding will start at €471m for the Villa Aurora in Rome(£), though at first glance it may be hard to see why. Yes, the 50-odd-room former hunting lodge on the Via Veneto is nice, but it doesn’t have a sprawling estate, spectacular views or even a pool. So why the record-breaking price tag? Well, in 1968 some paint was scraped off the ceiling of a small room on the first floor to reveal a hidden fresco. It turns out that not only was this daubed by chiaroscuro-king Caravaggio, but it was the only one he ever painted. And it is now valued at €310m. As the current owner, Princess Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi, puts it: “Let’s say you’re buying a Caravaggio with a house thrown in.”
