House prices slow as market braces for a solid but ‘not spectacular’ year May 24, 2023 House prices in the UK rose 4.1 per cent in the 12 months to March, adding £11,000 to the average value of a property. However, the figures are down from February’s 5.8 per cent hike and £8,000 below the recent housing peak in November 2022, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports. Across [...]
Mortgages: How the BoE’s twelfth consecutive rate rise will affect homeowners May 11, 2023 Homeowners on tracker mortgages could see their annual bills increase by £5,008 a year following the Bank of England’s twelfth consecutive rate rise on Thursday, though analysts have said the latest rise will not have a substantial impact on the housing market. The monetary policy committee (MPC) voted 7-2 in favour of raising borrowing costs [...]
IPL’s Mumbai Indians could deny England access to Jofra Archer, reports May 11, 2023 England may need to ask Mumbai Indians for access to star bowler Jofra Archer should he sign a year-round contract with the IPL franchise. According to reports by the Daily Mail, the 28-year-old pacer could sign a multi-million-pound deal with the Mumbai Indians in a move that would see the England and Wales Cricket Board [...]
Wealthy splurge £3.1bn on luxury London homes as demand recovers after pandemic May 11, 2023 London’s mega wealthy splurged £3.1bn on 161 luxury homes across the capital’s most affluent boroughs in the year to 23 March – the strongest year for London’s luxury property market since the Brexit vote. The highest number of £10 million-plus deals in London took place in Kensington, Belgravia and Mayfair, where the rich bought 73 [...]
Used car market accelerates as consumers opt for cheap vehicles amid rising bills May 10, 2023 The UK’s used car market saw its biggest quarter of growth since 2020 today, as consumers opt for cheap motors amid higher bills and the sector benefits from the knock-on effects of the semi-conductor shortage ease. The figures, published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), showed that the UK market for second-hand [...]
London life: Why even the wealthy are paying more, as cost of renting in hot spots soars May 9, 2023 The wealthy are not immune to the capital’s strained housing market with rent in prime London locations including Chelsea and Mayfair rising 50 per cent in just two years due to a lack of supply. The average rent of premier London pads grew by 50 per cent in the 24 months to April, according to [...]
Regulator’s new enforcement proposals meet with mixed reviews from experts May 9, 2023 Plans to encourage self-reporting from financial firms under investigation have received mixed reviews from regulation experts. Under proposals set out last week, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) said subjects under investigation could halve their fines by cooperating early in the investigation. The PRA said the so-called ‘early account scheme’ is designed to provide “greater clarity [...]
Stokes and Buttler among England cricket players set to sit in on ECB board meetings May 8, 2023 Three England cricket captains are set to be invited to sit in on board meetings, according to reports. Men’s Test captain Ben Stokes, one-day captain Jos Buttler and women’s captain Heather Knight are set to be invited by the England and Wales Cricket Board and chairman Richard Thompson as part of wider plans to develop [...]
What lies ahead for London’s property market? May 5, 2023 All eyes remained on London’s housing market this week as a flurry of reports signalled a return to a stable property market in the capital, but analysts have warned that the storm may not be fully weathered yet… As reports by Rightmove showed on Friday morning, first time buyers in the capital continue to be [...]
Mortgage rates ‘significantly’ increase – but what does it mean for the housing market? May 4, 2023 The number of mortgages being approved leaped in March in another signal that the outlook for the housing market is beginning to recover. Figures released today by the Bank of England showed that mortgage approvals for house purchases rose “significantly” to 52,000 in March from 44,100 in February. Lucian Cook, head of residential research at [...]