Cars are 22% bigger than they were 20 years ago. How many housebuilders increased the standard width of their garage doors? How many planning authorities have increased minimum width from 7’ to 8’.

Bloomberg (£) A member of the ‘ multi-billionaire’ family behind Thompson Reuters has bought a ‘sprawling’ single level flat in Mayfair for £25m. If memory serves, Bloomberg, which likes to tease rival, reported a sale to family on Grosvenor Sq last year. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Warehouse REIT says yes please to Blackstone’s £489m offer, spurning slightly lower bid of £485m from Tritax Big Box. But the Fat Lady ‘ain’t sung yet.

Estates Gazette (£) “Planners say Criterion failed to “suitably demonstrate there is no interest in the continued use of the site for office purposes” as marketing campaign ran for less than the required 12 months.” estatesgazette.co.uk/news/criterion…

PW (£) “The Fox Court site on Gray’s Inn Road will open in August under the company’s premium ‘beyond’ brand as ‘beyond Fox Court’. propertyweek.com/news/infinitsp…

Estates Gazette (£) “The council will ensure that its JV with Lendlease for Smithfield enables new JV partner, The Crown Estate, to participate in the scheme.” Well, now the pair has been gifted £172m of taxpayers money, what could go wrong? estatesgazette.co.uk/news/smithfiel…

DT (£) “The retailer has put forward a proposal to hand the keys back on 33 stores, slash the rents on a further 71 shops and write off a series of debts to stave off a severe liquidity crisis.” Looks like some landlords may resist. telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/…

Times (£) “Customers of the 29,000 sq m data centre in Reading run by CenterSquare can pay to use the three OQC quantum computers.” Article makes you wonder if giant data centres will be made redundant by advances in quantum computing. thetimes.com/business-money…

Building (£) “Goldman Sachs confirmed its private equity arm was buying 75% of Mace Consult. The move will see Consult demerge from Mace to become a standalone, independently-run company.” But not independent of Goldman Sachs. building.co.uk/news/goldman-s…

BD (£) Great Portland Estates has been ordered to make further changes to its long-delayed office scheme next to the Shard after being told a radical redesign by Orms had not been enough to address its heritage impact on surrounding buildings. bdonline.co.uk/news/orms-told…

EG (£) My column this weeks begs you to stay awake after being told that CMBS office delinquency rates in America have just spiked above the level last seen in 2012, in the aftermath of 2007/8 crash. Try not to worry too much, says a man who should know. eg.mydigitalpublication.co.uk/articles/news?…

FT (£) Banning “upward-only rent reviews” will not help revive the faltering high street and could erode investor confidence in the UK, the chief executive of British Land says. ft.com/content/f2301d… via @ft

Rightmove cruises on, making £151m profit on £211m turnover on first six months of 2025, with 10% rise in revenue producing 9% rise in profit.

PW (£) Ballymore and Places for London, the wholly owned commercial property company of Transport for London (TfL), have secured outline planning permission for the 3,365-home Edgware masterplan in north-west London. propertyweek.com/news/ballymore…

ST (£) He maintains a presence in Britain with the purchase of the four-star Gainsborough Hotel in south Kensington in 2018. The property is owned via, Robinbest Ltd and The Willett Hotel Ltd. Hands up any solicitor or agent involved in the deal. thetimes.com/uk/crime/artic…

Life Science REIT sale process inches along since put on the block in March. ‘Certain parties’ given access to finances to do due diligence…

Times (£) Deloitte’s latest crane survey shows that of the 2.4 million sq ft of new office supply in the capital that began in the first six months of 2025, almost 2 million sq ft, or 83 per cent, was through refurbishments. thetimes.com/business-money…

PW (£) New research from Knight Frank identified 12 retail parks, located either wholly or partially on protected industrial land in Greater London, which could help meet housing targets, if declassified. propertyweek.com/news/over-800-…

CoStar (£) The Crown Estate has increased its West End property holding with the acquisition of the headlease of 100 Regent Street from a vehicle managed by Federated Hermes Real Estate. costar.com/article/107838…

DT (£) “Mr Weis, a rival entrepreneur and chief executive of the Weis Group, accused the GMCA of having “distorted” the city’s property market by unfairly dishing out vast loans to Renaker.” Not sure this one is going away. telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/…