On Wednesday, 24 May 2023 Axiom DWFM held its fourth face to face property lunch following the pandemic and seven virtual lunches titled “Real Estate Market: Post Budget Commercial Opportunities”. In excess of 110 guests attended the School of Philosophy and Economic Science in Mandeville Place, Marylebone, another record number of attendees for these lunches.
The event was chaired by Jonathan Metliss, the Chairman of Axiom DWFM, and external speakers included Alex Brummer, financial editor of the Daily Mail, Will Clough partner and auctioneer with Allsops Commercial Auction Team, the UK’s leading Property Auctioneer, and Adrian Pepper of Pepper Media. Alicia Pattihis (General Real Estate) and Gemma Hawthorne (Property Litigation) of Axiom as well as other Axiom Lawyers in the room spoke about the Real Estate activities of the practice as well as recent developments in the law.
In introducing the events and speakers, Jonathan Metliss talked about current issues in the real estate market including house prices, position of landlords, ground rents, interest rates, infrastructure opportunities and the impact of artificial intelligence.
Alex Brummer from the Daily Mail talked about the general state of the UK economy which he considered more resilient than people give it credit for and that optimism rather than pessimism was in order. He focused in particular on inflation rates and was critical of the activities of the Bank of England in this area. He also made reference to the effect of artificial intelligence and chatbot on the economy as well as the whole area of freedom of expression.
Will Clough from Allsops expressed confidence in the market stating that there was an active appetite for deals. Only twenty percent of buyers were using finance as opposed to cash reserves. The market was healthy and big lots were selling. In discussing the outcome of the next general election, Adrian Pepper thought it would be a very “close run” and that the leading politicians of both major parties were technocrats rather than individualistic.
Jonathan Metliss, Chairman Axiom DWFM in his closing remarks emphasised the positive and commercial approach of Axiom, and Daniel Gleek from Axiom DWFM thanked the attendees.
The next Real Estate lunch is slated for September 2023.
