Internet update

Citation

Almond, N. (2004), "Internet update", Property Management, Vol. 22 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.2004.11322aag.001

Internet update

Following the last Internet update, this review considers various providers of economic analysis in the UK. As much of the information is subscription based it is not possible to provide a detailed review of the offerings. However, based on information gleaned from the various Web sites it is intended to provide a brief overview of the services offered, with a focus towards the UK, although it is acknowledged that the sites mentioned below do provide analysis of countries outside the UK to a varying level.

Experian Business Strategies (www.business-strategies.co.uk/) provide a range of services at the UK level, with some information freely available on the Web site. From the home page selecting “UK overview” provides a brief overview of the global and UK economic outlook. The “weekly update” provides a more up-to-date review of some of the key indicators and comparisons with the recent past. Much of this is of course readily available on Web sites elsewhere, but for free information one cannot complain.

Taking the UK economic link from the menu to the left provides more detailed information on some of the services on offer including the “Regional planning service”. The site provides a brief background to this service for which subscribers have access to historical data and forecasts for UK regional and industrial performance. Business strategies also produce a number of property related services, details of which can be viewed from selecting the “Town futures” link. Services under this banner include local market analysis, with more detailed sector analysis, including shopping centres and the residential market.

Cambridge Econometrics (www.camecon.co.uk/) provides a number of services at both the UK and European level. In the UK, the services are at an industrial and regional level. The industrial service provides a sectoral analysis of the UK economy. Detailed analysis of how this is undertaken and the service offered is provided, together with a sample report to view (on my visit this was a six page review of the communications sector). Selecting the “press” section also provides an insight into the level of information provided, with a fair level of detail provided in a number of releases. Of course, care should be taken if seeking to utilise this information as some is likely to be out of date.

The provision of some sample reports is replicated for the UK regional service, although in this instance the report was only the initial two pages of one UK region. Again more details of the service are provided, highlighting the 12 regions covered and the industrial disaggregation at this level. Similarly details on the “Local economy services” show that information provided to subscribers includes for example GDP and employment data for a number of local economies across the UK and Europe.

A more recent service offer comes from Capital Economics (www.capitaleconomics.com/), who are promoted heavily on the back of their managing director Roger Bootle. Compared to the other providers the level of information on the site is relatively limited for a non-subscriber. Browsing through the site as a “guest” it is possible to review sample work through submitting some general details. For those with a keener interest in potentially subscribing, you can also submit your details for a free trial or to receive more information on some of the services offered.

The main service offer is divided into three core headings – UK service, International service and Property service. The UK service includes economic updates, data responses (in relation to recent key announcements) and a quarterly review. Similar styles of publications are provided for the international economy. The property service, which may be more of interest to individuals, includes a quarterly review, recent market updates on certain key data, for example house price movements, and perhaps more specific work. Browsing when I did, reference was provided to a focus on “The impact of demographic change on the long-run demand for housing”.

Perhaps the most thoughtfully laid out site is that of Oxford Economic Forecasting (www.oef.com/), although as the focus is more towards the subscriber you may often find you click a link and are requested for login details to the view information.

To understand more of the services it would be best to choose the free trial offer that is available. Clicking the link at the top right hand corner of the screen takes you to a screen, which provides a background to the services and the ability to view some historic newsletters. You can also proceed to take a free trial from this section by providing various details.

On browsing I took the UK economy link from the left hand bar which then shows the level of offer. Reports available included, for example, a weekly brief, economic outlook and regional prospects. A list of weekly briefs is available highlighting the key theme of the report – of course these are only available to subscribers to the service, but nonetheless provides an immediate outlook of the nature of the service. For the regional prospects, the offer includes a macroeconomic overview and a regional overview for each of the regions. There also appears to be a detailed international offer including the Eurozone, USA, Japan and even emerging markets.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (www.cebr.co.uk) also provide a number of publications on the economy and other business intelligence. Their Web site is nicely presented, although at the time of viewing it was let down as a number of the links did not appear to work, or areas remained under construction. That aside, it is possible to gain an idea of the services provided through clicking the “publications” tab. Perhaps the most beneficial section is the “press room” which provides some historical releases and the opportunity to subscribe to their weekly forecasting eye briefing through entering some contact details.

Finally there is Lombard Street Research (www.lombard-st.co.uk/). As with the other sites the offer is similar. Some historic publications and sample reports are available, with the ability to register for a free trial, enabling you to view more recent work. There are no doubt many more similar sites that have not been covered in this review. If you know of any which are of use, then please let me know and I will address the balance in future issues.

Nigel Almond Senior Researcher, Jones Lang LaSalleNigel.Almond@eu.joneslanglasalle.com

Acknowledgements

The views expressed are those of the author and not those of Jones Lang LaSalle.