UK house prices at record high as growth slows amid General Election uncertainty April 16, 2015 The average price of a property across England and Wales was at a new record last month, despite March seeing the smallest annual change in house prices since November 2013. A house now costs on average of £275,123. This is a 5.6 per cent annual rise, equating to £14,620. However, in London and the south [...]
Scotland’s prime property market leaps as buyers race to avoid stamp duty increase February 23, 2015 The number of upmarket homes being sold in Scotland jumped 88 per cent between the second quarter and the fourth quarter of last year, and more than double the figure for the first three months of the year, as buyers raced to avoid a hike in transaction costs due to take place later this year. [...]
Car review: BMW’s futuristic new 7 Series lets you talk to your car using hand signals June 22, 2015 From city traders to third-world dictators, the Mercedes S-class has traditionally been the default limo of choice. BMW’s 7 Series won fans among those who prefer to drive than be driven, but it could never match the S-class for all-round appeal. The new 7 Series, though, could take the lustre off Mercedes’ three-pointed star. [...]
In graphs: London house prices up 19.3 per cent, UK 10.2 per cent August 25, 2014 As we reported earlier, UK house prices were up 10.2 per cent in the twelve months to June, according to Office of National Statistics (ONS) data. This was slightly lower than the figures of 10.4 per cent for the 12 months to May but still staunch growth. The news is that growth has slowed, corroborating the [...]
Fighting forward: The Black Farmer’s Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones talks sausages, political incorrectness and willpower May 31, 2015 Being an entrepreneur is all about timing. You can have the best-laid plans in the world, a huge amount of skill, but it’s really about catching the zeitgeist.” This is Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones’s opening line to me. After a brief pause, he adds, “life is also all about timing”. This is something the founder of [...]
Maximum excitement on the six nations with sporting index February 5, 2015 THE SIX Nations is a really competitive affair and makes for a great betting heat. Scotland and Italy’s wait for a first title in the new format looks certain to go on, so we are down to four teams who could take glory. Sporting Index traders can’t split England and Ireland on their Outright 60 [...]
UK property prices: House price growth still falling – but mortgage approvals are up April 9, 2015 Growth in house prices fell again in the three months to March, to 8.1 per cent, down from 8.5 per cent in January, research by Halifax suggested today. That puts growth at a "similar" rate to September 2014 – although it's now "significantly" below July's peak of 10.2 per cent, it added. Month on month, [...]
No more bubble? UK house price growth falls to 10.2 per cent August 19, 2014 House price hysteria has calmed slightly with prices rising by a marginally more modest 10.2 per cent in the year to June, compared with 10.4 per cent in May, official figures showed today. According to the Office for National Statistics' House Price Index, London and the South East continued to drive growth, with prices [...]
UK house prices soar as lack of homes fuels cost of living crisis September 22, 2014 House building in the UK has been in a continual state of decline since the 1970s, making it harder to own a home and to pay rent, according to a report released yesterday. In the several years preceding the financial crisis, just under 200,000 houses were completed per year – half the number that [...]
Green & Black’s founder Craig Sams on his plans to get us drinking real kola beans with Gusto Cola July 26, 2015 Back in the 1980s few people even knew that cocoa came from a pod grown on a tree. Absurd though that sounds, even supermarket buyers were unaware of cocoa’s provenance. As an experiment, Craig Sams, a legend in the macrobiotic diet community and founder of organic food company Whole Earth, decided to have some [...]