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Ed Conway

Hi I'm Ed Conway and this is my website!

Ed Miliband has got it wrong on rent reform: he doesn't go far enough

Ed Miliband has got it wrong on rent reform: he doesn't go far enough

In case you hadn’t already noticed, it’s election season. Yes, there may still be (just) more than a year to go until the general election, but the unhappy windfall of a fixed-term parliament is even more campaigning time. And so any pretence of genuine policy analysis is slowly

Britain: a nation of consumers. Always

Britain: a nation of consumers. Always

Given all the brow-beating about how reliant Britain is on consumer spending, the following chart is worth reflecting on. It shows that while the share of UK GDP accounted for by household consumption has risen steadily since the war, it is still far lower today than for most of the

GDP: a balanced, strong recovery (so far)

GDP: a balanced, strong recovery (so far)

The economy is now growing at comfortably the fastest annual rate since late 2007. Though the latest quarterly growth number was a touch lower than expected (0.8% rather than 0.9%), that makes little odds (and, as we’ll come onto in a moment, these initial estimates are usually

The rising pound

The rising pound

There’s been a lot of consternation in recent weeks about the rising level of the pound. Worth noting, though, that while it’s certainly risen a fair bit in recent months, up to the strongest level since the early days of the crisis, it still remains way, way below

House prices vs rents

House prices vs rents

You might have thought there would be a relationship between the rate at which house prices change and changes in the cost of renting a private property. If there is, it’s a very minor correlation, based on these statistics from the ONS. Here’s London house price inflation vs

Just how imbalanced is the UK economy?

Just how imbalanced is the UK economy?

There are plenty of complaints one hears about the UK economy, but perhaps the most frequent one is about it being deeply imbalanced. It includes the following notions: 1. “we don’t make anything any more”; 2. we are overly reliant on consumer spending and 3. we are way, way

London's foreign "cash" property buyers may be less cash-rich than you think

London's foreign "cash" property buyers may be less cash-rich than you think

There are all sorts of explanations for the bubble in the London housing market [https://www.edmundconway.com/2014/04/five-signs-the-london-property-bubble-is-reaching-unsustainable-proportions/] , but as with all markets, in the end the truth lies somewhere between supply and demand. On the one hand, we know that there is a shortage of supply,