2024: A roller coaster year for real estate

EDITOR’S COMMENT So here we are, another year over. And what a year it has been. 2024 has been nothing if not interesting. A roller coaster of activity that you can experience all over again in our big review of the year. It’s hard to keep track of it all. Remember when Adam Neumann thought he could buy back the business he destroyed? Or when then chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt handed devolution powers to his home county of Surrey? Or when a bunch of tower-dwelling corporates got their knickers in a twist about another tower being built on their doorstep? Right until the end, we can safely say that, despite muted investment levels, this has definitely been a year of activity. A new government, another reform of the planning system (and a welcome and sensible rethink of how planning committees actually work), a back-and-forth, quarter-by-quarter on whether the market is coming back, a flurry of M&A activity – with more to come, no doubt – the loss of some well-loved, significant people from our industry. And, of course, the end of an institution. I didn’t want to spend too long here talking about the planned closure of EG but I can’t not take this opportunity to say a very big, very heartfelt thank you to absolutely everyone who has been in touch. Every single one of your lovely messages has helped mend our broken hearts a little bit. Every single one has reminded us of the great impact that EG, the Estates Gazette, has had on people’s lives. You’ve grown up with it, it’s helped build your careers, it’s given you insights and intelligence, it’s challenged you to think about things that you might at one stage have thought had nothing to do with real estate. But you know as well as I do that real estate is people, so everything has something to do with real estate. That’s the power that you possess. And I know I speak for the whole EG team – editorial, events, marketing, production, sales, customer success, client services, product, research and technology – when I say we’re really going to miss reminding you of that. We’re really going to miss showing the world what a brilliant sector real estate is and what it means to our economy, our planet and to our people. But, like the sector has a whole, Team EG is nothing if it isn’t resilient. And like the theme of this year, we too are surviving until 2025. We will be back in the new year for a few more issues of this wonderful magazine and we will still be serving up online news. We promise to deliver until the very last story. We won’t forget you and ask you not to forget us. We will be pulling together a very special final issue, a true collector’s item and showcase of the legacy of EG. And I have a big favour to ask of you. Just one last time. We would love to share as many stories as we can about the true purpose of the Estates Gazette. Tell us what it has meant to you, what it’s meant to this glorious sector. Let’s make sure we celebrate everything the EG stood for. For you, for Team EG and for the industry. We stand proud and we want to create a very special gift for you, a lasting legacy that you can use to remind those who might not yet understand the uniquely beautiful power of the real estate sector to make the world a better (and richer) place. And if you have any favourite stories, interviews or features that you would like to see brought back to life, let us know. We put every issue together with our readers in mind, but this one, in the words of Kylie and Jason, will be especially for you.