Economy takes tiny dip

First quarter fall

The economy only shrank 1.5% in the first 3 months of the year according to official numbers from the Office for National Statistics. Not bad considering the country was in lockdown the whole time. March marked the start of the bounce back; GDP grew 2.1% in a month as schools reopened and retail picked up. Overall, it’s still 8.7% smaller than before the pandemic, but the Bank of England thinks we’ll recover most of the lost ground this year.

Affordable London rents

London isn’t known for being an affordable place to rent. But prices in the capital have fallen to their cheapest in a decade, down 9.4% from last year. Meanwhile, demand for space during lockdown has driven rents up elsewhere, with prices in the north east and south west of the country rising fastest.

Losing out to Wall Street

The City of London lost £2.3 trillion of trades in March as derivatives traders took their business across the pond. 40% of Euro-based trading used to happen via British clearing houses - it’s now around 10% according to research by Deloitte and IHS Markit. The culprit? Brexit. EU firms are blocked from using British platforms for derivatives trading under new rules.