Landlords are the real winners in the UK housing market
An interesting picture of the changing face of the UK housing market is provided by an analysis of census data by estate agency Savills, given exclusively to the FT.
The private rented sector is the main success story – it’s the only part of the market to have increased in value since the recession, and now makes up 17 per cent of the UK’s housing stock by units and 18 per cent by value, Savills found.
Is this the first sign of a US productivity puzzle?
by Kate Allen and Keith Fray
Today’s encouraging US non-farm payrolls data presents a puzzle – it contradicts the quarterly GDP figures that were published earlier this week. Employment is up, but the economy has apparently shrunk. Britain has been facing a similar contradiction for some time now. Read more
Fewer foreign language speakers in UK than other countries
The UK census data revealed that about eight per cent of the resident population speaks a language other than English as their main language.
This is not a large proportion, at least compared with many advanced countries. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Kate Allen works in the editorial statistics team in London. She previously specialised in housing data reporting for a national trade magazine.
Chris Cook works in the FT's comment team. After joining the FT in 2008 as a Peter Martin Fellow, he worked for two years as a leader writer and then as education correspondent.
Emily Cadman joined the FT in 2010 and is head of the interactive desk.
Martin Stabe works on the FT's interactive team, specialising in databases for interactive graphics.
Keith Fray heads the editorial statistics team, providing data for articles and graphics. His background is in economics, studying at Birkbeck College, London.
Norma Cohen is the FT's Demography Correspondent.
Valentina Romei is a statistical researcher at the FT. She joined the FT in 2008 after working both as an academic and market researcher.
