London’s property market is facing collapse — and it’s all thanks to Brexit

Dinesh Dhamija
Sep 4, 2018 · 2 min read

Property experts have warned that a no-deal Brexit ‘would hit capital’s house prices like a sledgehammer’ (Homes and Property, Aug 31). What they don’t mention is that it’s already happening — and it may be too late to stop it.

London has already lost the European Medicines Agency to Amsterdam and the European Banking Authority to Paris, taking with them 900 and 150 jobs respectively. Deutsche Bank has warned that around 4,500 staff — half of its London workforce — will have to leave the UK, and I have seen reports of an exodus of 10,500 from the City, if we have a hard Brexit.

Each one of these people owns or rents a property, so with all these properties hitting the market, we’re heading for a downturn. The other thing is, of course, interest rates are going up. And thus, you have a double-whammy; property prices are going down and interest rates are going up, in terms of mortgages. It’s almost like a slow train crash.

When the housing market first started slowing down, everyone said, “Oh, that’s normal. It’s just a cycle.” But now, it’s been proven, because people like Nationwide, these building societies are coming out and saying that they were supposed to go up by 0.1% in August, but actually house prices have dropped by 0.5%.

So change is already happening, with many companies looking to relocate to Dublin, Madrid or Frankfurt, and I’ve seen reports that one company is even looking for schools in Berlin for the children if its employees. Meanwhile, the Financial Times’ John Ridding has warned that the rise of China as a global power is also happening before our eyes, but we’re too blinded by Brexit to see it. We need to open our eyes before it’s too late.

Dinesh Dhamija

CEO, Copper Beech Group

London

Dinesh Dhamija

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