- New spending aimed at breathing new life into high streets and town centres may well impact local house prices. The government has made a very public commitment to spending money in order to rebalance the economy, a process called ‘levelling out’.
- 10.7 million people, equivalent to 16% of the British population, live within 200 metres of a high street and may feel the benefit of this.
- According to the British Retail Consortium, 2019 was the worst year on record for UK retail sales. PwC reported that in the first half of 2019 there was a net decline (the difference between the number that opened and closed) of 1,234 stores from Britain’s top 500 high streets.
- Consumers have clearly favoured logging-on to walking-in, as online sales increased by 5.6% in December 2019 when compared with December 2018. Online sales comprised 19% of all retailing in December 2019. However with over 80% of all retail spend still off-line, will 2020 prove a better year?
