Editorial: Uncertainty – friend or foe?

ABSTRACT

[...]just as home working has increased, so has the use of traditional office space declined. [...]that has had a significant impact upon our high streets and shopping centres with rents and capital values falling significantly. Retail values were down but relative to lower market rents, the yield was not as high as many expected. Returning to the doomsayers in my opening paragraph, there is a lovely irony that the Brexit uncertainty exacerbated by all the negative views mentioned actually led to a subdued investment market in 2019 and 2020 so, relative to Europe, the challenges and falls in value experienced in the 2021 economy hit the UK less because the pre-Brexit prices were not as high as they may have been otherwise.