Agency Express has reported a 13.6% increase in the number of homes put up for sale in May, compared with April, leaving prospective purchasers their best level of choice in over two years. The firm’s managing director, Stephen Watson, comments: “The decision by the new coalition Government to immediately suspend the requirement to have a [...]
Being near a top performing primary school in England can add as much as £19,500 to the value of a home, research by Nationwide Building Society has found. Houses near a school where every 11-year-old achieves at least a level four in their Sats exams are worth 11% more than average, Nationwide discovered. However, just [...]
Flats and apartments are now more popular than houses in the high-end property market, it emerged this week. London-based property consultancy firm Black Brick said whereas 12 months ago people were looking for big houses to live in as a home or second home, the focus now is on buying flats and apartments as an [...]
Upmarket estate agent, Knight Frank, has reported that owners of prime country houses are becoming more realistic when it comes to selling. Prices for prime country residences fell by an average 16% during 2008 but the decline accelerated in the last three months of the year, when values plummeted by 9%. City job losses in [...]
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) is urging the Government to make use of an estimated 750,000 empty homes to house people who are already homeless or will become so by being repossessed. Since June 2006, local authorities in England and Wales have had the power to issue Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) on [...]
House building figures for the three months to the end of September have been released by the Department of Communities and Local Government. The statistics show that new housing starts in England stood at an estimated 22,200, with the seasonally adjusted figure down 33% of the previous three months and 48% lower than a year [...]
Barratt Developments is less than optimistic about the future direction of UK property prices. According to reports in The Telegraph and Daily Mail, the housebuilder is offering a huge discount to property investors who are prepared to buy five or more flats or houses from its Yorkshire East division. This week, Nationwide reported that UK [...]
Accountancy firm, BDO Stoy Hayward, has revealed the extent to which criminals are targeting housing associations in scams that are costing the sector up to £400 million a year. BDO head of fraud services, Simon Bevan, believes that fraudsters are attracted to social landlords because they make easier prey than the banks. Last year the [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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