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1. UK employment opportunities continue decline
Unemployment in the United Kingdom increased in the first three months of 2025 to 4.5%, a 0.1% increase from the prior quarter, according to May 13 data from the U.K. government’s Office for National Statistics. The organization also reported that the number of job vacancies also declined in the first quarter of 2025, by 42,000. That represents “the 34th consecutive quarterly decline with quarterly falls seen in 13 out of the 18 industry sectors.”
Last year, CoStar News' Terence Baker reported on the U.K. government's cost increases. At the time the suggestion was that April's increase in the National Living Wage and employers’ contributions to National Insurance might have caused employers to be more cautious during the first three months of the year. The number of people claiming the unemployment benefit in April increased to more than 1.7 million.
2. Majority shareholder again tries to take Singapore REIT private
The majority shareholder of Singapore-based Frasers Property, Thailand’s Thai investor TCC Holdings, is trying again to take Frasers’ real estate investment trust Frasers Hospitality Trust private. Its first attempt was in 2022. This time around, 0.71 Singapore dollars ($0.54) has been offered for every share it does not own, which places a value on the entire REIT at approximately $1.05 billion.
The 2022 bid offered a price per share of SG$0.71 but TCC and Frasers Property point to currently reduced macroeconomic indicators and state the second deal unlocks greater value. Frasers Hospitality owns 3,477 rooms in 14 hotels. Frasers Property owns a much larger hotel portfolio valued at SG$38.9 billion ($29.8 billion) and which includes the Malmaison Hotel du Vin Group in partnership with KSL Capital Partners.
3. US inflation cools slightly in April
Ahead of an anticipated jump in prices as U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs take effect, U.S. inflation was rather mild in April, the New York Times Reports. The Consumer Price Index rose 2.3% year over year in April, and over the course of the month, prices rose 0.2% after a 0.1% dip in March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The New York Times also reports prices for food, clothing, used cars and airline fares all dropped in April. Airline fares declined 2.8% from March to April.
4. Saudi Arabian Formula 1 Grand Prix drives Jeddah performance
The Saudi Arabian Formula 1 Grand Prix race on the weekend of April 18-20 saw hotel performance zoom ahead to its highest April occupancy levels ever. Occupancy on average in the month was 82.5%, up 21.1% year over year. The highest occupancy for any one day in the month was the night of the main race of the event, Sunday, April 20, when it reached 96.5%. Occupancy in the month dropped below 70% only three days in the month.
Both hotel average daily rate and revenue per available room saw their highest levels in the month on April 19, with ADR peaking at 1,604.34 Saudi Arabia riyals ($427.16) and RevPAR peaking at 1,527.74 riyals. Australian racing driver Oscar Piastri won the event for the McLaren racing team.
5. NYC sues Greenwich Village hotel in short-term-rentals test case
New York City has taken its fight against what it sees as illegal accommodations offerings to court, suing the Incentra Village Hotel in Greenwich Village. Muriel Goode-Trufant, corporation counsel of the City of New York, filed with the Manhattan Supreme Court seeking to “shut down the 12 unregistered and illegal short-term rentals advertised and operated by defendants in two attached townhouses.” New York in September 2023 imposed Local Law 18 that banned short-term rentals unless the owner is present.
The New York Times reported “city officials and housing advocates have long complained that units in such hotels are unsafe, and that they remove apartments from the housing stock at a time when the city is facing its worst housing shortage in more than 50 years.”
Defending the Incentra Village, Francisco Augspach told the newspaper the hotel has “a long history of providing a safe, comfortable and affordable place to stay. … This lawsuit represents an unwarranted attack on the continuing operation of a lawful, pre-existing historic inn that has been serving the Greenwich Village community for many decades.”