Thursday newspaper round-up: Property demand, Wahaca, UK car production

(Sharecast News) - Demand for houses has soared since the lockdown ended, according to a report from Zoopla, with three- and four-bedroom houses with space to work from home particularly popular. Properties are selling far faster than before the pandemic struck, the report said, as buyers flooded back to the market. The amount of time a home is put up for sale before it finds a buyer has fallen to just 27 days since restrictions were eased, compared to 39 days over the same period in 2019. - Guardian
The traditional end-of-summer commuter crush appears unlikely to materialise next week as companies and staff shun the office and embrace remote working, prompting a warning from the UK's leading business body about the future of firms that rely on passing trade. Hundreds of thousands of mostly white-collar workers are expected to continue working from home, in some cases permanently, despite the reopening of schools in England over the next fortnight. - Guardian

Wahaca, the Mexican restaurant chain set up by Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers, is set to shut more than a third of its sites in a bid to shore up cash. The group said 10 of its 28 restaurants will permanently close as rental costs in city centre locations made running them "untenable". Wahaca said rents in some locations had risen by as up to 70pc over the past five years, with business rates increasing by 30 to 40pc. - Telegraph

Car production in Britain dropped 20 per cent in July as factories continued to struggle with restrictions and slow demand. After up to three months of lost output during workplace lockdowns, production is running at 40 per cent lower in the first seven months of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. - The Times

Negotiations with Japan over a post-Brexit trade agreement are at risk of dragging into next month because of disagreements over agriculture. Government officials have warned that talks could take weeks to conclude, rather than days, despite Downing Street's insistence that finalising a deal by the end of the month remained its "shared aim" with Tokyo. - The Times