London's Economy Today - Issue 188 - April 2018

The overview

• IMF slightly upgrades UK growth forecast, though these remain weaker than most other advanced economies
• Prospect for further UK interest rate rises
• Sharpest fall in annual house prices in London since the start of 2011

Economic indicators

• Business activity growth at London private firms was 52.4 in March, lower than February (54.0). Index readings above 50.0 suggest a month-on-month increase in that variable, while readings below indicate a decrease.
• Most surveyors continued to have negative expectations for the next three months for house prices in London. The RICS index decreased from -18 in February to -23 in March.
• Consumer confidence remains negative in London at -5 in March. The GfK index of consumer confidence reflects people’s views on their financial position and the general economy over the past year and in the next 12 months. A score above zero suggests positive opinions; a score below zero indicates negative sentiment.

London’s Economy Today supplement: Childcare demand - drivers and projections

• In the period since 2004 there has been strong growth in the use of both any and formal childcare, and a fall in the use of informal childcare both in London and nationally.
• Childcare is less affordable in London, and this situation may have worsened. This may be a deterrent to some mothers taking up part-time work.
• The numbers of 0-14 year olds in London attending formal childcare is expected to grow from 0.9m in 2016 to 1.0m in 2041, an increase of 100,000 childcare places, at a compound annual growth rate of 0.4%, which equates to an extra 4,000 places per year.

London’s Economy Today supplement: Results of our 'London's Economy Today' readers' survey

We wanted to know how useful each of the sections of London’s Economy Today is to our readers. And we are pleased to report that all sections of the newsletter are considered either useful or very useful to the majority of our readers.

• The editorial section was found to be useful or very useful to 80% of our readers.
• The economic indicators section was useful or very useful to 87% of our readers.
• And 67% of our readers found the supplement section useful or very useful.

London’s Economy Today data on the Datastore

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