Property professionals gather for annual industry report (From Hampshire Chronicle)
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Jones Lang LaSalle launches 17th South Coast Metropole report
6:48pm Friday 21st September 2012 in Hampshire Business
Michael Green and Andrew Burrell of Jones Lang LaSalle
PROPERTY professionals gathered today for a breakfast briefing as Jones Lang LaSalle published its 17th South Coast Metropole report.
The property agency welcomed 120 professionals to Chilworth Manor Hotel in Southampton for an assessment of the global and national issues that will affect the local economy over the next 12 months.
Michael Green, the lead director from JLL’s Southampton office gave an overview of the current UK economic situation and said “signs of life” were beginning to show.
He said: “This time last year we faced three problems – a massive debt crisis, a weakening US economy and a faltering Eurozone. We faced one adrenalin rush after another, bad news following bad news dashing any hopes that we were even close to finding the road to recovery.
“It all looked pretty scary. We faced the possibility of a messy and ill-tempered break-up of the Euro, the States falling back into recession and years, if not decades of zero growth and high inflation.
“But, a year on, the US has not fallen back into recession and is actually doing ok-ish, backed by a third round of quantitative easing to help drive down stubbornly high unemployment rates.
“The Eurozone is still hanging on in there, and the UK economy, although still flat, is ever so slowly, beginning to show some signs of life.
“2012 was always going to be a tough year, but that doesn’t mean that shouldn’t be planning for the future, because short of an unlikely full scale break-up of the Eurozone, growth will return, and we best be ready for it when it comes.”
Andrew Burrell, head of European forecasting, said the UK economy was 4 per cent smaller than it was in 2008 and the outlook was highly uncertain.
He said: “The outlook for the next 12 months will remain fragile but an improvement is in prospect. The future will be different but not always in obvious ways. It is critical to understand global markets, dynamic sectors and urban drivers.”
