UK house prices continue to rise following stamp duty deadline May 19, 2025 Demand for houses has dipped following the end of first-time buyer relief on stamp duty, despite a cut in interest rates. House prices grew by 0.6 per cent in April, according to Rightmove, the lowest at this time of year since 2016. The number of new properties coming onto the market for sale is 14 [...]
Uncertain US tariffs put Rolex, Patek Philippe and Omega in a precarious position May 14, 2025 Swiss watchmakers are nervously awaiting a positive outcome for US-Switzerland tariffs negotiations to avoid throwing the industry into chaos. On July 1, Swiss exports in the US will be slapped with a 31 per cent tariff – that is, unless the country can negotiate a deal before then. “These tariffs… place the international watch trade [...]
Fund managers fear for the future of the London Stock Exchange May 12, 2025 Leading fund managers are warning that sentiment towards the London Stock Exchange is drastically low following a meeting with Downing Street to discuss the issue. Nick Lawson, chief executive of investment group Ocean Wall, described UK equity markets as being at “rock bottom” following a meeting with Varun Chandra, the government’s special adviser on business. [...]
Rightmove: Lower mortgages and browsing Brits boost property portal May 9, 2025 Property platform Rightmove has benefitted from a more optimistic housing market as mortgage rates fall, with buyer demand and property listings both up. The FTSE100 company, which is home to over 80 per cent of all consumer time spent on UK property portals, said new property listings rose nine per cent in the first four [...]
What the Bank of England’s interest rate cut means for your mortgage May 8, 2025 The Bank of England has reduced rates by 0.25 percentage points to 4.25 per cent in a hotly anticipated cut that will leave homeowners with big decisions for their mortgage deals. The reduced cost for banks to borrow money will have broad implications for the mortgage market, as banks lower interest rates on loans. Major [...]
House prices rise in April: ‘The market is baring its teeth’ May 8, 2025 House prices in the UK ticked up in April as the market unexpectedly bounced back from the end of stamp duty relief. According to Halifax, house prices increased by 0.3 per cent in April vs a fall of 0.5 per cent in March, making the average property now £297,781. Prices have been remarkably stable over [...]
Raiola Ratings, FPL gurus and €1m: What super agent’s family did next May 8, 2025 The larger-than-life, occasionally combustible figure of football super-agent Mino Raiola couldn’t have appeared further from the world of number-crunching and algorithms. The late transfer broker, whose clients included Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Erling Haaland, always seemed far more into pressing the flesh and pouring champagne than poring over data. But one strand of the [...]
TSB Bank’s profit rockets from stamp duty rush and cost-cutting May 8, 2025 TSB Bank’s cost-cutting plans and a rush to beat the stamp duty deadline imposed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves helped bolster profits in the first quarter. The Edinburgh-headquartered lender increased profit before tax to £101.3m for the first three months of 2025 – an 89 per cent jump from £53.4m in 2024. Operating expenses fell 4.7 [...]
UK construction crumbles in April as ‘bumpy ride’ continues May 7, 2025 UK construction endured another month of collapsing output in April, new research has suggested, in signs that a turnaround in the sector is still distant. The sector has now seen a decline in output over four consecutive months, according to S&P Global’s newest purchasing managers’ index (PMI). Civil engineering remained the weakest area of construction [...]
What a trade deal with India means for the UK May 7, 2025 The UK government is heralding a “new era” for British business: after three years of negotiations, a free trade agreement has been signed with India. This is the third agreement the UK has brokered since Brexit and it is also the biggest of them all, given India is the largest single economy that the UK [...]