Our front cover this month is perhaps a little dramatic but it's meant to underline what we will be experiencing more and more of in our everyday lives in the upcoming decades and the impact for property investment should not be underestimated.

Automation and robotics allied to other new technology developments, such as AI, are becoming ever more evident and in this edition on page 16 we look at how it might affect employment prospects in UK cities in the years ahead. Some locations mentioned, which might be good places to invest within, such as Cambridge and Oxford, probably won't be a surprise. However, there are some other less than glamorous locations highlighted in our analysis which may well make you pause for thought!

Continuing with the technology theme in this edition, we also look at automation in the home on page 40 with yet another insightful article from John Corey.

This month we have two investor-led interviews but with an underlying focus in each on two specific topics. On page 20 we look at the evolving use of ‘peer to peer to lending’; it’s not the first time we have covered the topic but this time we are assessing evidence-based projects which show just how this funding option for property projects is being utilised by developers. Our second interview is with an experienced property professional (Alexandra Thur), who specialises in the niche of ‘ground rents’. It’s been a somewhat controversial topic, following on from some sharp practices by a few housebuilders with leaseholds gaining notoriety in recent years.