Mortgage approvals fall to two-year low March 2, 2026 Mortgage approvals slumped to a two-year low in January as buyers remain cautious following months of damaging uncertainty around the November Budget. Net mortgage approvals for house purchases dropped to 60,000 in January, six per cent below the 64,100 six-month average, according to new Bank of England figures. The property market is still suffering from [...]
House price growth holds steady in February March 2, 2026 House prices held steady in the year to February and rose slightly from last month, according to Nationwide’s house price index. The average UK house price last month was £273,176, up 0.3 per cent from January, and annual price growth was unchanged at one per cent. A continued improvement in affordability helped drive first-time buyers [...]
Forget student loans, the national debt is the real mortgage on the young February 27, 2026 Debating student loan interest distracts from the far larger and permanent national debt and its interest payments, which place a compounding, long-term financial liability on younger taxpayers who already face rising costs and a weakening worker-to-retiree ratio, says Martin Beck The campaign to cut student loan interest rates is welcome. A system where balances rise [...]
Third of London homes cheaper to buy than to rent as prices fall February 25, 2026 More than a third of London homes are now cheaper to buy than to rent as house prices in the capital shrunk in the last year. The proportion of London houses which are cheaper to buy with a mortgage has doubled since last year, from 18 to 36 per cent, while still lower than the [...]
The era of cheap money is coming to an end – markets aren’t ready February 24, 2026 The era of historically cheap money is ending, forcing a potentially permanent adjustment to higher equilibrium interest rates that will challenge financial markets and government finances built on past assumptions, says Damian Pudner For almost a decade until the pandemic, financial markets priced money as if it would remain cheap indefinitely. Governments borrowed freely, financial [...]
The FCA rule change everyone missed that could upend the mortgage market February 19, 2026 The FCA has set out a new, more pragmatic approach to affordability assessments that could open up the market, increasing competition and benefiting consumers and lenders alike, says Fernando Zandona Mortgages, and who provides them, have hardly changed in decades. The mortgage market remains one of the few sectors of UK financial services that seems [...]
Cash ISA changes add complexity to the market, says building society February 18, 2026 The government’s decision to cut the cash ISA tax-free ceiling has added “complexity” to the market, a building society executive has said, as Britons still seek to have a cash safety net. Speaking in an interview with City AM, Stuart Haire, chief executive of Skipton Group has said that while the government was correct to [...]
UK house prices see modest growth amid London slump February 18, 2026 UK house prices ticked up last year, but the London market continued to lag after property tax speculation and high mortgage rates constrained affordability. The average UK house price increased by 2.4 per cent annually in December 2025, slowing from 2.8 per cent growth in the year to November, according to the latest data from [...]
Is AI really to blame for Britain’s rising unemployment? February 17, 2026 Unemployment has risen to 5.2 per cent, the highest level since 2021, as the UK’s labour market continues to cool. But how much of that stagnation can reasonably be attributed to AI? The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show the jobless rate climbed in the three months to December, while the number of [...]
Close Brothers MD: I started my career working for Gordon Ramsay February 12, 2026 Chiara Caldwell, managing director at Close Brothers, tells us how she went from fine dining to banking in Square Mile and Me.