UK house price growth slows, but prices are five times average earnings December 4, 2014 House prices across the UK were up 8.2 per cent in the year to November, another month of slower growth after October's 8.8 per cent rise. The price to earnings ratio is ticking up, however, and has reached a multiplier of 5.02. Halifax’s house price index also showed quarterly prices up 0.7 per cent (slowing [...]
Cheap mortgages are here to stay as OBR predicts interest rates will remain low December 3, 2014 Interest rates will stay lower for longer, the fiscal watchdog predicted yesterday, because the Bank of England is now not expected to tighten monetary policy until well into 2015. When it last made its forecasts in March, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicted the average mortgage interest rate would dip below three per cent [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: The big stamp duty shake-up December 3, 2014 Stamp duty will be cut for millions of house buyers but hiked on the most expensive properties as part of a radical shake-up of the system announced by George Osborne. The chancellor claimed some 98 per cent of buyers will see a cut in their stamp duty bill as a result of the move, seen [...]
Are Osborne’s reforms to stamp duty welcome news for the UK? December 3, 2014 Rory Meakin, research fellow at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, says Yes. Finally! Yesterday, the chancellor at last ditched the awful “slab” rate structure for stamp duty on homes. Higher rates now only apply to the amount over the tax’s thresholds, instead of the whole purchase price. Stamp duty starts at £125,000. If you bought a home [...]
Which London borough will pay most stamp duty under Osborne’s new rules? December 3, 2014 Buyers moving to Kensington and Chelsea will contribute more stamp duty than any other London borough under new plans revealed by George Osborne in his Autumn Statement today. More than 12,500 homes in the borough will be subject to a higher rate of stamp duty after the changes come into effect. New Westminster residents would [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: What does George Osborne’s stamp duty reform actually mean? December 3, 2014 In an Autumn Statement firmly aimed at courting the popular vote, George Osborne today announced a complete overhaul of the stamp duty system – the elephant in the residential market for a decade. Estate agents said the old system wasn't progressive enough, and unfairly taxed home buyers. The cherry on Osborne's stamp duty cake was [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: Stamp duty, business rates, banking profits and tech firm taxes. How has industry responded? December 3, 2014 There were a number of surprises in George Osborne's final Autumn Statement before the general election, many of which are solidly aimed at middle class voters. Bankers taxes are being limited, multinational tech firms are going to have to pay more taxes and stamp duty slabs have been scrapped. The squeezed middle and chattering [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: George Osborne scraps stamp duty slabs December 3, 2014 George Osborne's Autumn Statement unveiled a raft of measures in an intensely political statement aimed at luring voters back from Ukip during next year's general election. His centrepiece? A complete overhaul of stamp duty which, he said, will create savings for 98 per cent of home buyers. To cheers from the Tory back benches, Osborne [...]
Winkworth says mansion tax talk hitting demand for London £2m-plus homes December 2, 2014 The threat of a potential mansion tax after May’s general election was hitting demand for £2m-plus homes, estate agent Winkworth said yesterday. Shares in the agency fell 2.6 per cent after it warned of a “subdued” first half of 2015, despite anticipating a pick-up in activity in the final six months of the year. It [...]
UK and London house prices mapped: An average wage in Blackpool will buy you less than two square metres in Chelsea December 2, 2014 Click on the buttons in the top right to reveal the layers The average wage in Blackpool will net you one and a half square metres of floor space in Chelsea, while a Westminster dweller could buy 42.6 metres of home in Blaenau Gwent, such is the disparity in the UK’s housing market. Westminster is [...]