House prices forecast to fall for the first time since 2012

Another day, another house price survey. Today’s research from chartered surveyors predicts that house prices are set to drop for the first time since 2012, as demand for property falls at its fastest rate in eight years.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) says there will be a short-term drop in UK house prices over the next three month. Surveyors expecting prices to drop outnumbered those expecting prices to rise by a majority of 10 per cent.

However, Rics said the fall was likely to be short-lived. It cited the EU referendum, and a cooling of the market following stamp duty changes in April. ‘What we are looking at is a short term drop caused by the uncertainty resulting from the forthcoming EU referendum, coupled by a slow-down following the rush to get into the market ahead of the tax change on the purchase of investment properties,’  said Simon Rubinsohn, Rics chief economist.

According to new research by a broker intermediary organisation, over half of house-hunting Britons end up parting with more money than they intended to. Furthermore, the poll found that one in four Britons buy a house with an extra bedroom to their original specifications. Online Mortgage Advisor found that, of the 2,105 Brits surveyed (all of whom had purchased a property in the last twelve months), more than half confessed they’d bought a house for ‘at least 10 per cent’ more than they originally intended to spend. The majority felt influenced by their emotions over practical needs, resulting in a hike in spending, while others blamed their partners and even their children.

A win for landlords

The Times reports that thousands of buy-to-let landlords will share a £27.5 million payout after winning a legal battle against one of Britain’s biggest building societies. The West Bromwich Building Society has been left to foot the bill after the Court of Appeal ruled that it had wrongly increased the interest rate on landlords’ tracker mortgages. Judges ruled that it was not legally entitled to vary their mortgage interest rates in the absence of a change in the Bank of England base rate. The bill is more than double the lender’s annual profits. It made £13.5 million in the financial year 2015-16. Nevertheless, West Bromwich said that the decision ‘will not put the society in financial difficulty’. Minted

The Royal Mint is to offer savers the chance to own gold bars within their pension funds for the first time. Investors will be able to buy 100g or 1kg bars – or even a fractional amount of a larger 400oz bar – and have it stored at the Royal Mint. The vault, at Llantrisant in South Wales, is guarded by the Ministry of Defence.

Physical gold has been eligible for inclusion in Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) since 2014. However, it needs to be of at least 99.5 per cent purity to qualify. Royal Mint gold bullion has a purity value of 99.9 per cent. Investors will be charged up to 1 per cent a year for the privilege of owning the bars, plus VAT. Previously it was possible to buy gold bullion from the Royal Mint, but not as part of pension savings. Holidaymaker worries

Thisismoney reports that holidaymakers could risk being underinsured or face hefty bills if something goes wrong because they do not spot holes in their travel insurance.

In a study of 700 policies by price comparison website Compare the Market, 45 per cent were found to only cover cancelling a holiday if the total cost of pre-paid travel and accommodation is less than £3,000 while 49 per cent only cover valuables worth £250 or less.

This could leave a significant gap if the worst happens and you need to cancel your holiday or your luggage is lost or stolen. However many people are put off reading the small print as it is on average 29,392 words long and takes 88 minutes to read.

Women drivers

Women drivers may think they are more likely to be ripped off over car repairs, but new research shows that it is men who really pay over the odds at the garage. Male motorists are quoted on average 13 per cent more than women for car repairs and servicing– bucking the widespread perception that females are more likely to be fleeced. And older men can pay up to a third more for a service.

Dark or red-haired women do best of all and tend to receive the most competitive quotes – with blondes paying more on average, according to the research by car insurer by Sheilas’ Wheels which used male and female ‘mystery shoppers’ to test how garages responded to the same car repair presented by different sexes.

Euro 2016

With the 2016 UEFA European Championship in France starting on Friday, new analysis from Sainsbury’s Bank Travel Money indicates that for UK football fans to travel to France and follow all of the group stage games of one of the home nation teams, it will cost them between £2,771 and £2,888 – depending on who they are supporting.

A new guide offering consumers advice on how to avoid making errors when sending electronic payments was published yesterday by Payments UK, the trade association for the payments industry.

The new guide, published as part of Payments UK’s Pay Your Way consumer advice campaign, explains how to make electronic payments correctly, how to prevent mistakes from happening and what steps customers can take if they mistakenly send a payment to the wrong account.

Electronic payments, such as mobile and online banking payments, are addressed using just the sort code and account number. Yet new research conducted for Payments UK found that more than half of people incorrectly believe the recipient’s name is checked, a further 15 per cent think the recipient’s debit card number is used and just over one in twenty even believe their post code is checked.

BHS Meanwhile, committee hearings about BHS dominated today’s front pages. Dominic Chappell, the former owner of BHS, had his ‘fingers in the till’ of the failed retailer and ‘threatened to kill’ its chief executive after he was confronted about taking money out of the business, according to explosive allegations made to MPs.