The great house price bubble?

Posted on: 13 November 2013
By: mackene
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With house prices hitting record highs at the same time as living standards continue to be squeezed, BBC Panorama reporter Adam Shaw goes in search of affordable homes for ordinary working families. He meets dual income households priced out of home ownership altogether and talks to one of the thousands of people being helped onto the property ladder by the government’s controversial Help to Buy scheme. New research examines the number of UK households at risk of falling into unsustainable debt with each half percent rise in interest rates. This programme was first broadcast on 11 November 2013 and is available to watch for 12 months.

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Leipzig and urban development funds

Posted on: 7 November 2013
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The City of Leipzig is project partner in the URBACT network “CSI Europe” which is led by the City of Manchester and which focusses on urban development funds. The focus of each city is to implement new financial instruments on a local level. This article features an interview with Karsten Gerkens, Head of the Office for Urban Re-generation and Residential Development of the City of Leipzig.

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The global infrastructure challenge: The role of PPP in a new financial and economic paradigm

Posted on: 30 October 2013
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The infrastructure investment challenge has commanded increasing levels of attention amongst national governments in recent years. The Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in response to the infrastructure investment challenge has been adopted in more than forty countries around the world amidst budgetary constraints and in the absence of a ‘viable alternative’. This report presents a timely and credible update of the role of Public Private Partnership (PPP) within the confines of the global infrastructure investment challenge within what has been a radically transformed financial and economic paradigm. It specifically looks at five key PPP markets namely: Australia, Canada, India, the UK, and the USA.  The research outlines the increasingly urgent need for new investment models, better data analysis and increased capability in infrastructure delivery.

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The global landscape of climate finance 2013

Posted on: 24 October 2013
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This report argues that public policies, resources, and money are the ‘engine room’ of the climate finance system, and can alter the balance between risk and return in ways that drive the supply and demand for finance. Private capital flows into climate investments when public incentives and money make them commercially attractive by taking-off risk and reducing incremental costs. While many countries have policy frameworks that provide such incentives, significant capacity and incentive gaps remain.

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Measuring climate finance effectiveness: incomplete picture without the sub-national level

Posted on: 24 October 2013
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The author this blog comments on how the Overseas Development Institute and others are realising the importance of seeing the whole picture surrounding climate finance.

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Better regulation of Public-Private Partnerships for transport infrastructure

Posted on: 16 October 2013
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The report examines the nature of risks and uncertainty associated with different types of PPP project and the practical consequences of transferring risks to private partners. It assesses the fiscal impact of PPPs and discusses budget procedures and accounting rules to limit the public liabilities they can create. The report also reviews the relative merits of tolls, availability payments and regulated asset base models for attracting finance for public infrastructure from private investors on a sustainable basis.

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Spending round 2013

Posted on: 8 October 2013
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The House of Commons Treasury Select Committee has published a report containing conclusions and recommendations from its inquiry into the 2013 Spending Round. The Committee requests clarification on the Help to Buy scheme and on the economic case for High Speed 2.

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Disaster risk financing in APEC economies: practices and challenges

Posted on: 7 October 2013
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This report provides a survey of disaster risk financing practices within APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation), including implementation challenges and key priorities for future work. It constitutes the first step towards promoting effective and widespread implementation of the G20/OECD Methodological Framework in the APEC region and beyond in the area of disaster risk financing.

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The Real Estate Gazette

Posted on: 3 October 2013
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DLA Piper has issued the 13 edition of its quarterly publication containing articles and comments on recent legislation and case law affecting every aspect of real estate from around the globe, including investment, finance, tax and corporate/funds issues, as well as planning/zoning, construction and dispute resolution. Highlights of this issue include the overseas expansion of Chinese insurance companies into the real estate market.

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Business rates: the case for reform

Posted on: 23 September 2013
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Reforming business rates would be the single most important step towards reviving high streets and boosting retail jobs across the country, according to a new report from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The BRC is working closely with stakeholders to investigate appropriate reforms, which would be hugely beneficial to local communities and the wider UK economy.

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