By +Eric Jafari
London's economy has been outperforming other
regions in the UK since 2007, according to new data from
the Office for National Statistics. Analysing data from before the
onset of the economic downturn onwards, it was observed that the
capital's nominal output has increased at a much quicker pace than
other regions, while its unemployment rates have also fared
better.
What's more, larger growth in active business stock has helped
to see an increase of over 250,000 jobs and rising incomes. This is
in sharp contrast to the rest of the country, where jobs have
declined and average income levels have contracted.
However, it isn't just London's economic performance that has
stood apart from the rest over the UK over the last five years.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the city has
actually experienced the recession differently to other parts of
Britain. The capital managed to maintain strong output growth in
2008 - a time when other regions began to note a slowdown in
output. Similarly, in 2009 only a small decline was noted, whereas
elsewhere outputs began to drop significantly. Interestingly, while
the rest of the UK bounced back in 2010, London's growth slowed
slightly, but then gained momentum again in 2011.
Overall, this means that from 2007 to 2011 London's economy grew
by 12.4 per cent, compared to 2.3 per cent and 6.8 per cent across
other UK regions. Consequently, the city was able to achieve a
rising share of UK output of 21.9 per cent, compared to 20.7 per
cent in 2007.
With such favourable economic factors, it is
little surprise that property in London is also going from strength
to strength. This is particularly clear in the residential
sector, as an increasing population of highly mobile professionals
drives up values. In its latest UK Annual Residential Index, IPD
revealed that returns from private rental sector portfolios sat at
8.9 per cent in 2012, compared to 2.7 per cent gathered by the
commercial property sector.
15 March 2013
Tags
London Economy