Norwich City Council have released their latest economic barometer. The report highlighted:
Locally
- The East of England economy is on track for a positive, albeit slow recovery, over coming years led by activity in the health and education sectors, according to a regional economic forecast from EY. It identifies the East as one of five of the nine English regions which will be larger in 2023 than it was in 2019 although its growth will be fractional at 0.08 per cent pa.
- Just over half of East of England SMEs (53 per cent) say that becoming more environmentally sustainable is important and a similar share have worked on green measures during COVID. a quarter of firms have used using cash reserves and government grants (15 per cent) to fund green improvements.
- Business confidence in the East of England rose 20 points in December – albeit to minus one per cent – which was its highest point since the beginning of the pandemic in March.
- The growth of online retailing will mean more development of warehousing and logistics space and business parks in Norfolk and nationally.
- The East of England has seen the highest rise of any region in employer demand for fintech skills, up 30 per cent over 2017 – 2019.
- KPMG’s Future of Towns and Cities Post COVID-19 report predicts that Norwich is set to lose more than 4,000 jobs post-pandemic as 18.5 per cent of people continue to work from home rather than working from an office.
- During the month of November, average house prices fell by 0.20% in Norwich and by 0.235 in the region; prices across England grew by1.23%. The average house price in Norwich currently stands at £208,663 against £302,624 for the East of England and £266,742 for England.
- The 2020 impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been one of steep growth in claimant count unemployment. The increase has been strongest in the Norwich city council area.
Nationally
- December data highlighted a marginal expansion of UK private sector output, driven by another solid increase in manufacturing production.
- In contrast, overall levels of service sector activity stagnated at the end of 2020, largely due to ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions on hospitality, leisure and travel businesses.
- The latest survey also indicated severe pressure on manufacturing supply chains, which was overwhelmingly linked to freight delays following congestion at UK ports.
- UK construction companies recorded a sustained rebound in business activity during December, according to the latest PMI data compiled by IHS Markit.
- Finance leaders expect levels of home-working to rise five-fold by 2025 compared to pre-pandemic levels and are forecasting higher levels of taxation and regulation in the longer term,
