Real estate firm, CollIiers has today provided an overview of the UK that despite recent boosts such as the Jubilee; the retail sector is still suffering from uncertainty in the Eurozone.
Sales in retail have been affected heavily by the poor weather conditions and a general apathy by consumers in terms of their spending behaviour.
A short respite from this has come in the form of the Jubilee celebrations meaning consumers were splashing out on party food and beverages however big ticket items were still neglected in favour of economy ranges.
Neil Saunders feels this vulnerability is set to continue due to customers having limited money to spend and believes retailers need to implement even more strategies to overcome this difficult period, “The UK economy in terms of retail remains soft.
“There may be months of more positive growth but the sector is suffering from less customer wage increases meaning people have less to spend.
“The general underlying trend is weak confidence which dissuades and discourages people from making purchases.
He added, “Retailers have to work a lot harder.”
London appears to be a city that remains relatively infallible to the impact of the economic downturn with foreign property companies now seeing it as an attractive investment.
Dr Walter Boettcher, Director of Research & Forecasting at Colliers International, feels that property will see an improvement towards the end of the year due to this foreign interest, “The UK economy is stable, but not improving, and is vulnerable to shocks.
“Real wages are contracting and not supporting household spending.
Boettcher concluded, “Falling inflation is providing scope for further policy stimulus, improved sentiment and is likely to result in a stronger year end both for the UK economy , but also for UK property.”
