The prospects for a consumer spending boom after lockdown have been downplayed by a senior Treasury official, amid warnings that wealthier families have saved more than low-paid workers during the pandemic. Charlie Bean, a former Bank of England deputy governor who sits on the government’s budget responsibility committee, said it would take several years for households to spend £180bn in extra savings accumulated mainly by retirees and higher-paid workers during the crisis.- Guardian
Property prices in Yorkshire and the north-west could rise by almost 30% over the next five years, more than double the rate of growth in London, a leading property firm has predicted. Researchers at Savills had expected house prices to remain flat in 2021 across the UK, but measures to support the market including last week’s budget announcements, combined with the easing of lockdown measures, have led them to revisit their forecasts. – Guardian
The City of London has given the green light to more than 2m sq ft of new office space already this year, paving the way for a building boom despite the impact of Covid-19 on the Square Mile. Many large financial companies have signalled a move away from five-day weeks in the office, with several big names planning to move to smaller premises. None the less, in the first two months of 2021 the City of London Corporation’s planning committee has approved the creation of nearly 80pc of the total office space that it approved last year (2.6m sq ft). – Telegraph
Major banks that reserved spots at international schools in Frankfurt have not taken them up after a post-Brexit exodus from the City failed to materialise. Senior staff at three international schools in Frankfurt told Financial News they had not experienced a Brexit-related influx despite a surge of enquiries leading up to Brexit as lenders prepared to move London bankers to the continent. – Telegraph
New investors have poured £272 million into Starling, paving the way for a flotation of the digital bank created four years ago. The bank also made its valuation public for the first time, saying that it had been priced at £1.1 billion by investors, putting it into the sought-after category of so-called unicorns – startup or early stage businesses worth more than $1 billion. – The Times
