It was one of those pleasing but meaningless coincidences that saw Wells Fargo, the huge American bank, announce that it was spending £300 million on a new London headquarters near the Bank of England, one of the biggest votes of confidence in the top end of the capital’s property market in months, just as British Land released its first-quarter trading update.
The Wells Fargo deal will have been negotiated well before the referendum vote, but, like the Japanese takeover of ARM Holdings, will have been made more compelling by the fall in sterling since. British Land was conspicuous in its caution yesterday and no one knows where the property market is going. The general message, though, is that life has continued as one might expect