Posts filed under 'house and home'
I don’t know about you but I find it really hard to understand exactly what is going on in our economy.
Today we are reading reports that mortgage lending in March rose by 16 per cent and that we are finally seeing movement in the housing market. Lending in March 2009 was still 52 per cent lower than in March 2008 but at least it is moving in the right direction. The numbers of homes changing hands in March also jumped by 40 per cent and property website Rightmove confirmed that they have seen house prices rise in the past three months.
So on the one hand things are starting to show signs of improving. Then along comes Alastair Darling with his 2009 Budget. He announced today that
the UK will have to borrow a record £175 billion with our economy this year expected to be the worst since the second world war.
Key points from the budget include:
* Alcohol taxes up 2% from midnight
* Tax on tobacco up 2% from 6pm
* Fuel duty to rise by 2p per litre from September
* Introduction of a car scrappage scheme
* A rise in income tax for those earning over £150,000
* A reduction in tax relief on pensions for people on more than £150,000 a year
And the outlook for the Economy
* Forecast to shrink by 3.5% in 2009
* Growth expected to pick up in 2010, expanding to 1.25%
* Economy to grow by 3.5% annually from 2011
* Public borrowing to increase to £175 billion
* Consumer price inflation to fall to 1% by the end of the year.
* Retail price index to go to -3% by September.
The International Monetary Fund thinks that Alastair Darling is being rather optomistic with his growth expectations in 2010. They predict that the economy will shrink by 4.1% this year and continue to contract by 0.4% in 2010.
Time will tell but at the moment I wouldn’t certainly err on the side of caution.
April 22nd, 2009
Today The BBC website are reporting that energy firms E.On and Scottish and Southern Energy are to raise gas and electricity prices by up to 29%. At a time when people are tightening their belts, any tips on reducing our costs are very welcome.
I found this fantastic article on The Times website 50 tips on thrift from the WI. Times Money spoke to members from the Women’s Institute to find out what their best tips were on ‘old-fashioned home economics’.
Some of their tips include - planning your shopping before you go, don’t buy buy-one-get-one-free items unless you use the extra, buy cheap - don’t shun the value ranges, use a three tier steamer instead of individual saucepans as this saves on electricity and also shop in the last hour of the day to get reduced items.
We can also cut costs outside of the home when motoring, and apparently that is exactly what more and more of us are planning to do. The Observer is reporting that the demand in the UK for hybrid cars is at an all time high with long waiting lists. Japan are experiencing declining car ownership due to the high oil prices. But they are being rather more pro-active then us Brits. A Japanese start up company and looking at ways in which they can modify existing cars and make them more efficient rather than people having to buy a new hybrid car. You can read the full article here, ‘Cars with a green conscience’.
August 21st, 2008
The housing market is being hit hard by the credit crunch. There were reports recently that UK house prices have fallen by 8.1% over the last year and 1.7% in July alone. This is the biggest annual fall since the Nationwide began its housing survey in 1991, according to The BBC website.
Today there were more worrying reports as The Times and The Telegraph both report that repossessions are up by 40% in the first three months of 2008. More than 300,000 are in arrears on their mortgage payments.
The Financial Services Authority reports that 9,152 people had their homes repossessed in January to March of 2008. This compares to 6,471 during the same period in 2007. The Council of Mortgage Lenders is predicting that this will rise to 45,000 by the end of the year.
So with all this crisis, what are the Government going to do to save the housing market and give consumers more confidence. Well one of the ideas is to defer stamp duty. Alistair Darling says that he is looking at a number of measures to help people but was reluctant to talk specifically about stamp duty. During the 1991 recession the Conservative government decided to temporarily suspend tax on homes worth less than £250,000. Currently homes up to this value would incur a 1% stamp duty fee.
Personally I think that this would be a great idea and may go someway towards helping to kick start the housing market again. Someone buying a house worth £260,000 would currently also need to find £7,800 just for the stamp duty. That is a lot of money to find, along with removal fees, solicitors fees and other costs. It is worth remembering though that the fee would have to be paid at some stage but at least it gives the buyer time to save a bit more.
At the moment Alistair Darling is remaining tight lipped on the subject but I am struggling to think of an alternative action.
August 5th, 2008
It seems that everywhere in England wants its own landmark and tourist attraction. London has The London Eye, Gateshead has The Angel of the North and Kent now appear to want a huge horse that will be able to be seen from land, rail or air.
I can see the attraction to the London Eye as it has a purpose, you can see amazing views all over London and it is quite a special experience. It is now the most popular paid tourist attraction in the UK attracting more than 3 million people every year. However, where sculptures like The Angel of the North are concerned I need a little more convincing. I think that it is a fantastic piece of architecture and it looks so simple yet it needed 150 metric tonnes of concrete as its foundations, quite unbelievable. It also created a huge topic of interest at the time and much publicity for Gateshead but I wouldn’t class it as a tourist attraction so I’m not sure what benefit it brings to the area. Some would now class it as the landmark for the North of England and apparently it is one of the 12 official icons of England.
Kent, Ebbsfleet to be precise, are now looking for their own £2m hilltop landmark. The 5 shortlisted ideas include an abstract steel latticework of stacked polyhedrons, an enormous white horse 33 times’ life-size, a ’signal’ tower consisting of a laser beam of light, a giant pairing of a concrete disc and detached wing, a kitsch temple with an altar at the centre and a craggy mountain made out of recycled excess material excavated from the site. Each actually looks very eye catching and would certainly bring a focal point to an area that is not known. The Telegraph has more details on the sculptures and artists.
At the moment Ebbsfleet is mainly just a train station and there is a football team called Ebbsfleet United, but there are plans to develop this area with new homes, offices and shops and that is where this sculpture comes into play. The aim of the sculpture is to bring an identity to the area, somewhere where people will want to live. The question is who would like to have views from their kitchen window looking at the back end of a horse or a craggy looking moutain made out of recycled excess material? We’ll have to wait and see.
May 8th, 2008
Like many home owners I am in the position that in a few months time my current mortgage deal ends and I will be looking for a better deal. Unfortunately, even with the announcement today that The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee is to cut interest rates to 5% from 5.25%, it looks like I will be lucky if I manage to get a similar deal never mind a better one.
But I am a lot better placed then people looking for their first mortgage. Many mortgage companies have started to pull some of their products from the market. First Direct, owned by HSBC, were the first to withdraw their entire mortgage range from new customers, followed by the Co-operative Bank pulling all its two year deals and others followed suit. Bristol and West Mortgages, a subsidiary of the Bank of Ireland, has become the latest bank to take action withdrawing about 60 percent of its products.
HSBC has decided to try and cash in on the situation announcing that it will match the interest rate of any borrower who is coming to the end of their fixed rate deals. What’s the catch? Well apparently it is in the arrangement fee which can be as high as £4,999, although HSBC are quick to reassure us that they estimate that three quarters of people will pay £999 or less.
The effect has already been felt in the housing market with prices falling by 2.5% in March, the biggest monthly decline since September 1992 according to The Halifax. And who knows how much further prices will fall. Anatole Kaletsky reports for The Times Online that prices could fall by as much as 30% if we follow the United States.
At times like these it is a great opportunity to review all your finances. Make sure that you are getting the best deals from your banks and building societies, check your insurance to make sure you aren’t paying above the odds and reduce weekly shopping bills by trying more own branded products. You can find more great tips on Money Saving Expert.
April 10th, 2008
There’s a saying that “many hands make light work”. There’s another one that says “a woman’s work is never done”. A new report just out which I read about in the Independent on Sunday, reported gleefully that the French do less housework than anyone else. However, the article also noted that in Britain, women do 71% of all the housework - more than twice as much as men. I can’t say I am that surprised at this really, and I think it comes down to the fact that in essence women care more about it, so do more about it. Since I don’t actually know everyone in the UK , I’ll just have to rely on sweeping generalisations here, but I think it fair to say women do housework in case someone pops round, whereas men do it only if someone is coming round. And then only if that person is a prospective partner or their own mother. Or that prospective partner’s mother.Â
Of course, when it comes to housework, analysing the time spent is one way of looking at the issue, but of course this ignores the quesion of efficiency. One reader of the Independent on Sunday blog - male, French and writing in French, so excuse my translation - has suggested that if French people do indeed spend less time on housework, maybe it is because they work that much more efficiently.  Top answer Pierre, and one I must remember next time my wife asks how many domestic hours I have put in!Â
October 14th, 2007
