Britain is experiencing a “Hunger Games” economic recovery with London surging ahead of other regions, new research highlighted today.
Economic optimism in the “super-charged” capital is up to a year-and-a-half ahead of other parts of the country, according to the analysis by pollster YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research.
But it also found that the house price boom in the capital may be running out of steam, with the cost of homes expected to rise faster in the South-East than London over the next year.
The starkest finding, though, is that economic optimism in London is 19 months ahead of the North-East and more than a year over Wales, Yorkshire & the Humber, the North-West and West Midlands. Scotland and the East Midlands are trailing the capital by 11 months, the South-West, East and Northern Ireland by eight months, and the South-East by two months.
“The recovery has very much been like the Hunger Games, with the capital and surrounding areas burgeoning while the regions wither on the vine,” said Stephen Harmston of YouGov.
The Hunger Games movie depicts a fantasy world with a rich and decadent capital but impoverished regions.
CEBR director Charles Davis added: “While growth in London has boosted the UK’s economic numbers as a whole, it has not boosted the outcomes in many areas meaning a lot of places are even further behind the capital than they were during the downturn.”
The YouGov/Cebr consumer confidence index rose to 114.5 points in June, up 11.6 per cent over the year but the smallest month-on-month increase since February.
