Brexit leading to uncertainty in London: Blau

Big Ben and Jeff Blau
Big Ben and Jeff Blau

The Related Companies’ Jeff Blau is circumspect on London’s luxury real estate market as the U.K. gets ready to break from the European Union.

“Uncertainty is bad for business, and Brexit has created uncertainty,” the company CEO told Bloomberg on Monday.

The company, which formed a joint venture to develop approximately 13,000 residential units targeting the city’s middle-market, has “certainly” seen a drop in prices for luxury London homes, Blau [TRDataCustom] said.

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London’s residential market has declined sharply from near-record highs amid an atmosphere of higher sales taxes and concern over Brexit. Sales of London homes under construction plummeted last year to their lowest level since 2012, and there is a record number of unsold properties, according to the research firm Molior London.

New listings fell 14 percent in January from a year earlier as sellers got more skittish. [Bloomberg]Rich Bockmann