UK house prices: Growth down while rents soar by their highest in seven years March 22, 2023 Private rent paid by tenants in the UK rose 4.7 per cent in the 12 months to February 2023, up from 4.4 per cent in the 12 months to January 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics which also reported that house prices increased 6.3 per cent in the same period. Annual private rent [...]
Analysis: Is it the end of the Winter of Discontent? March 21, 2023 The weather is (just) getting warmer, pay talks have paused strikes, but it might just be a break in the wave of strikes.
Spring Budget 2023 fails contractors, freelancers, agency workers (and the country as a whole) March 21, 2023 Jeremy Hunt’s first budget met expectations. ‘Dammed by faint praise’ fits the bill when best trying to articulate the frustration felt at yet another in a long list of missed opportunities. For those working in compliance and contingent employment, across the contracting sector, the failure is stark and can be charged on two counts. First [...]
Inheritance tax take beats all records as property price hikes boost HMRC’s coffers by whopping £6.4bn March 21, 2023 The amount of inheritance tax (IHT) paid in February totalled £531m, bringing the total for the 2022/23 tax year to a record £6.4bn. With just one month to go the amount already surpassed the £6.1bn received by the Treasury throughout the entire 2021-22 financial year. The record-breaking inheritance tax take follows last week’s revision by [...]
London house price growth slows, but you’ll still need over £1m to live in Camden, Kensington or Westminster March 20, 2023 The price of the average London home stood at £680,806, according to online estate agent Rightmove, which found that house prices in the capital rose 2.5 per cent compared to three per cent in Britain as a whole in the last 12 months. When looked at borough-by-borough, property prices fared differently. So while Camden residents [...]
Crash? What crash? House prices defy gravity though London lags slightly March 20, 2023 House prices continues to defy expectations with a steady recovery this month that has seen the average property coming onto the market increase by £3,000. Asking prices for new sellers do still remain £5,800 below their peak in October 2022. London’s average asking price fell by 0.1 per cent in March, leaving the average price [...]
Brits now more concerned about state of UK economy than before budget, polling finds March 20, 2023 More than a third of Brits surveyed say the budget last week made them more concerned about the state of the UK’s economy. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled his spring statement in the House of Commons last week in light of rosier economic projections and within the government’s self-imposed fiscal rules. He focused on childcare reforms, [...]
Pension pain: Savers who bought lifetime allowance ‘protection’ warned they may still find their tax-free lump sum capped March 17, 2023 Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s decision to scrap the pension lifetime allowance (LTA) in Wednesday’s Spring Budget, was heralded as an incentive for wealthier employees over 50 to stay in the workforce. But some pensions experts say for those who took out a form of LTA protection may still have to watch they do not go over [...]
Banks, bonds, inflation, recession and energy: Five lessons the markets taught us this week March 17, 2023 The third week of March proved to be a rollercoaster for the world’s investors, with a rout on banks and the spectre of inflation, recession and the growing cost of living making their presence felt. These themes may indeed play on in future, so here are the five lessons we’ve learned from the markets this [...]
Recession off the cards, getting over 50s ‘back to work’, strikes and banks take stock – the five best read stories on City A.M. this week March 17, 2023 It was the week UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt laid out his first Spring Budget, but as pension savers and taxpayers looked on, fears of a recession appeared to fade, although the sagas of banks Silicon Valley Bank, Credit Suisse and on-going strikes raged on; here are the stories readers were flocking to on City A.M. [...]