London's Economy Today - Issue 189 - May 2018

The overview

• UK economy grew at slowest rate since 2012 in Q1 2018, as the Bank of England cuts its forecast for 2018
• UK inflation approaches target while the Bank rate remains at 0.5%
• Eurozone economic growth slows

Economic indicators

• Business activity growth at London private firms was 53.9 in April, higher than March (52.4). Index readings above 50.0 suggest a month-on-month increase in that variable, while readings below indicate a decrease.
• Most property surveyors reported a contraction in London´s house prices with the net balance of property surveyors index down to -65 during the period February-April, the most negative figure in nine years.
• Consumer confidence continues to decrease in London with the index of consumer confidence in London being negative (-6) in April, broadly unchanged from March and Feb (-5). 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: An update on London’s architecture sector

• London’s architecture sector had 4,515 workplaces (in 2017) and contained approximately 26,200 jobs (in 2016).
• Around half of these jobholders were female and one-third had a non-UK nationality in 2016.
• In terms of gross value added (constant 2015 prices), London’s architecture sector produced £1.9 billion of output in 2016. That makes it similar in size to London’s Postal and courier activities and Motor trades sectors. The architecture sector has also grown 7.7% per annum on average between 2009 and 2016 which was a faster rate of real growth than the London average.

London’s Economy Today data on the Datastore

• The main economic indicators for London are available to download from the Datastore.