Asking prices for houses have hit their highest level since the early days of the financial crisis, says property search website Rightmove, quoted on Thisismoney.co.uk. Sellers are looking for 2.8% more in February than they were a month ago, pushing asking prices 1.1% above their level a year ago and just shy of a record set in February 2008.
Recently the Council of Mortgage Lenders also announced that lending to first-time buyers is at a five-year high. But the most active age bracket, says Rightmove, is people aged 45-65 who already own a house and can raise finance relatively easily. Lower down the ladder, much depends on how much longer the government’s one-off Funding for Lending scheme lasts.
The Economist has warned that house prices here are overvalued by between 12% and 21%, depending on the area. That’s why Rightmove director Miles Shipside warns “the journey between expressing an interest and closing the deal has many more twists and turns than before the credit crunch”.
• People are under mounting pressure when it comes to saving money. According to ING Direct’s Consumer Savings Monitor, the average amount of cash stashed away fell in the last six months of 2012 to £1,678, a drop of £362, or 17%. According to ING, the main reasons for the decrease are increases in the cost of living and inflation. Many people are raiding savings to make ends meet – a worrying trend.
• Beware of being drawn into high-risk assets that you may not fully understand, says Andrew Oxlade in The Daily Telegraph. Unscrupulous salesmen are offering wine investments that promise a 13% return. Wine joins a growing band of assets that includes everything from stamps to US buy-to-let property. Remember that if an offer looks too good to be true, it probably is – steer clear.
• Up to 850,000 people filed a late self-assessment tax return this year, according to Richard Evans in the Telegraph. That triggers a fine of £100 and further costs of £10 a day after the end of April. Appeals can be made on certain grounds that include a family illness or bereavement.
• If you have signed up to the free Telephone Preference Service (Tsponline.org.uk) to have nuisance calls blocked, watch out, says Tony Levene in The Guardian. Research by Which? reveals that it only reduces the number of fraudulent calls (ranging from payment protection insurance compensation services to carbon credit schemes) by about a third.
BT has launched a phone that claims to block 80% of unwanted calls. But it costs from £44.99 (more for extra handsets) and has yet to be proven in consumer trails. We’ll keep you posted as other options become available.