House prices rising slowly but 2024 still a ‘bumper year’ October 28, 2024 2024 is set to be a “bumper year” for house sales thanks to rising real incomes and lower mortgage rates, according to Zoopla’s latest house price index. The level of new sales has increased to its highest level since late 2020, the survey showed. There are 306,000 homes currently working through the buying process, 26 [...]
Unique Rolls-Royce Phantom Goldfinger is the ultimate Bond car October 25, 2024 As an emphatic statement of wealth, it’s hard to top a Rolls-Royce made from solid gold. But then Auric Goldfinger was never the modest or timid type. It was 1964 when this evil mastermind scaled the Swiss Alps in his Phantom III Sedanca de Ville, pursued at a safe distance by Sean Connery as James [...]
How might the Autumn Budget affect the housing market? October 24, 2024 The property market is, finally, doing well. In September, a closely-watched survey of estate agents found that sentiment in the market turned positive for the first time in two years. Market sentiment has improved as mortgage rates have started to fall. House prices have ticked up to their highest level in more than two years. [...]
London theatre icon Rob Madge: I’ve been drinking with Joanna Lumley (imagine if it was Echo Falls!) October 23, 2024 Rob Madge is one of Britain’s biggest grassroots theatre success stories. They tell Adam Bloodworth about their creative process You might not have heard of Rob Madge, but it’s hard to sum up the massive impact their career has had on the UK theatre industry. Madge, who uses they/them pronouns, has a naturalistic style of [...]
Autumn Budget: Which taxes will Rachel Reeves hike? October 22, 2024 With the Autumn Budget set to be delivered in just a few days, speculation about which taxes Chancellor Rachel Reeves will opt to raise has reached fever pitch. On entering No 11 Downing Street, Reeves commissioned the Treasury to conduct a thorough spending audit, which she claimed unearthed a “fiscal black hole” of £22bn, paving [...]
How we saved Britain’s small businesses millions in energy costs – and counting October 22, 2024 Small businesses across the UK have had to face the wrath of rising energy costs for years - and entrepreneur Joe McDonald is fed up with it.
‘Incredible undervaluations’: Why this boss thinks the time is right to float on AIM October 22, 2024 A new acquisition vehicle announced plans to float on AIM last week despite a barrage of warnings over its future ahead of the budget. Its boss, Iain McDonald, tells City AM why. In a letter to the City minister, Tulip Siddiq, last month, the boss of the London Stock Exchange had some stark words on [...]
Why English cricket is like the Premier League 20 years ago October 21, 2024 Laurie Pinto advised Hampshire on their sale and sees parallels between the stage cricket finds itself in and the Premier League’s situation two decades ago.
Number of UK house sales jumped by a third after rates cut, before Budget October 21, 2024 Despite uncertainty about the coming Autumn budget, buyers continued to pile into the property market after the Bank of England cut interest rates, with the number of homes sold up by a third year on year. The number of sales agreed rose by 29 per cent, while the number of potential buyers contacting estate agents [...]
Longer-term mortgages are on the rise amid financial stability risk concerns October 17, 2024 In the first quarter of 2024, half of new mortgages had terms of 30 years or longer, up from just 12 per cent in the final quarter of 2005.