London house prices: Top-end property sales crushed by stamp duty increase April 13, 2015 Higher taxes have stomped on the prime London property market, forcing the number of sales to dive by one-third, commercial real estate firm DTZ said yesterday. Changes to stamp duty in December’s Autumn Statement mean that homes worth below £1m received a tax cut, but those at the very top end of the price scale have [...]
European markets fall from record highs as political uncertainty hits sterling April 13, 2015 Following the jubilant highs achieved by European markets on Friday, things looked rather more muted this morning. Stocks across Europe started the day down amid political and economic uncertainty, while Greece prepared to enter yet another last-chance saloon. The FTSE 100 was down 0.29 per cent in early trading, while Germany's Dax fell 0.27 per [...]
The death of cash: Brits pay by card and mobile instead April 13, 2015 Cash makes up just £18.33 of every £100 spent in the UK, Halifax said today, as card and digital payments take over. The rise of digital payments is starkly outlined in new figures from the bank, which show how quickly Britons have adopted cutting-edge technologies. Cheques account for just 1.2 per cent of all current [...]
London leads UK business activity April 12, 2015 London is leading the way as the UK sees business activity rise at a pace not experienced for seven months, a survey of firms released today shows. Lloyds’ purchasing managers’ index shows all regions across England and Wales were boosted by gains in employment growth.
Zero hours, infinite rows: Is job growth stagnating or recovering? A look at Britain’s labour market April 12, 2015 Expect a screaming match this Friday – the jobs numbers are out. It isn’t every day that official statistics generate this much excitement, but we are in the middle of an election campaign. Economists expect another fall in unemployment, a decent rise in the number of jobs and another month of wages rising faster than [...]
First-time buyers make the most of sudden stall in UK house prices April 12, 2015 First-time buyers snapped up 21,000 houses in February, taking advantage of a short-term blip in house prices, according to estate agents Reeds Rains and Your Move. That is an 11 per cent rise in the number of transactions on the month. The average first-time buyer paid £143,767 for their property, down four per cent on [...]
Survey points to high business optimism and strong hiring plans April 12, 2015 Businesses are planning to take on more workers over the coming months, according to survey figures released today by accountancy firm BDO. BDO’s employment index – an indicator of hiring intentions – scored 113 in March. Despite it being marginally lower than February’s 113.1, it is far above the long-term average of 100. Firms also [...]
Charted: Coalition the first government to enjoy uninterrupted interest rates for 60 years April 10, 2015 With the Bank of England’s interest rate decision yesterday, the coalition government has become the first government for 50 years to make it through its entire time in power without interest rates being raised. The total, if you're counting, is now 74 months, after the rate was lowered from one per cent on 5 March [...]
Wage increases gather pace as recruiters battle skills shortage April 9, 2015 Salaries for new staff rose at their fastest pace in six month in March, recruiters said today, as diving unemployment combined with strong growth to push up pay. Finance workers and engineers are in the highest demand, closely followed by executive staff. The study from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG found that almost [...]
Broker warns UK house price rise could accelerate April 9, 2015 House price growth has cooled since last year’s boom, but price growth remains high and could pick up again, a mortgage broker has warned. The average UK house price was £192,970 in March, 8.1 per cent higher than a year ago, according to figures released by Halifax yesterday. A boom in house prices last year [...]