Nationwide fires starting gun on mortgage deals ahead of interest rate decision Banking Nationwide has slashed its mortgage rates for the second time in the space of a week, ahead of the Bank of England’s interest rate decision on Thursday. The building society has taken the chop to its home loan prices, with a 0.28 percentage-point reduction. It follows a 0.12 cut on 10 June. The move comes [...]
Housebuilder Bellway warns mortgage rate hikes dampening housing demand Property Bellway has said that recent rises to mortgage rates as a result of the Iran war are dampening demand for housing, on top of rising building cost inflation due to the conflict. The FTSE 250 housebuilder said it has seen a “moderation” in customer demand in April and May, bringing an end to a “positive” [...]
Britain has turned its back on liberalism Opinion Britain is governed by a veto-cracy, a framework in which all progress is stalled thanks to a noisy minority, writes Julia Willemyns.
Nationwide income soars on consumer lending boost May 21, 2026 Nationwide booked a hefty jump in its annual income as the building society benefited from a boost in consumer lending and clawed out a bigger market share of mortgage balances. The mutual recorded a 22 per cent jump in total income to £6.4bn, which was up from £5.2bn in the previous year, led by a [...]
After Santander’s TSB takeover – who are the top players in UK banking? May 1, 2026 Santander shocked the City last years after beating out its rivals to snap up TSB Bank. Now with the takeover complete, who are the major players in the sector? The near £3bn mega-merger of Santander and TSB has finally reached completion. And with it, Spanish-owned Santander is set to significantly beef up its UK presence [...]
MJ Gleeson warns building cost inflation prompting ‘high caution’ May 1, 2026 Housebuilder MJ Gleeson has sounded the alarm over building cost inflation, prompting “higher than usual caution” over its finances. The London-listed firm said on Friday: “We have recently seen some softening in footfall and reservations, and limited increases in the cost of some materials.” The effective blockade to the Strait of Hormuz caused by the [...]
Sadiq Khan’s ideological aversion to profit is blocking London housebuilding April 29, 2026 Just as measures to stimulate the housebuilding sector are being warmly received, Sadiq Khan is undermining efforts with talk of rent caps, writes Andrew Teacher.
Family-run construction firms pushed ‘to brink’ by inheritance tax April 1, 2026 Family-run construction firms are being pushed to the brink of insolvency by reforms to inheritance tax which undermine Labour’s housebuilding target, a trade body has warned. Plant-hire firms – which provide machinery and services to the construction sector – are almost always family run and are being forced to scale back by inheritance tax changes, [...]
Iran war to drive up building costs, warns Travis Perkins boss March 17, 2026 The boss of the UK’s largest builders’ merchant has warned building costs are poised to rise as suppliers warn they are facing soaring energy costs. Gavin Slark, the new boss of Travis Perkins, said the conflict in the Middle East and the resulting spike of energy prices will force manufacturers to put up prices to [...]
Here’s what the Square Mile skyline will look like in six years February 19, 2026 The City of London Corporation has revealed a new CGI skyline showcasing the Square Mile skyscrapers set to be completed in the next six years. The computer-generated images were released to mark a record set of planning permission deals in 2025, which have included the decision to green-light what will be the City’s tallest building, [...]