House prices increased more than £20,000 in the year to March to a new record high as annual UK house price inflation returned to double-digit growth for the first time in almost two years, according to the latest Halifax house price index.
Buyers chasing a low stock of homes for sale sent prices rising by £21,587 or 10.1 per cent in the three months to March, compared to the same period a year ago. The average price is now £214,811, Halifax said. This is the biggest annual jump since July 2014 and the second biggest since the run-up to the financial crash in September 2007.
Research by Skipton Building Society has revealed that many savers are missing out because they don’t understand the rules and financial jargon associated with the new Personal Savings Allowance (PSA) and existing types of savings accounts.
Under the terms of the PSA, basic rate taxpayers can earn £1,000 interest on savings before paying tax (the threshold for higher rate taxpayers is £500). According to Skipton Building Society, more than a third of survey respondents don’t know what the PSA is. The company says that one in five people don’t save at all, and one in ten of this group say this is because they don’t understand enough about the different types of savings products on the market.
This week saw the launch of Atom Bank’s app-only account. The digital-only lender generated a mixed response from the financial services industry with its service via iPhone and iPad apps. Gocompare.com Money‘s spokesman Matt Sanders said: ‘Atom Bank has caused a stir in the banking industry since it was granted the first ever UK digital-only banking licence back last year. As such, the launch of an app-only savings account, with a strong savings rate will no doubt have piqued the interest of other providers. If the Atom Bank app account is successful, there’s every chance we could soon see other banks follow suit with mobile only offerings.’
Meanwhile, Thisismoney.co.uk reports that British tourists looking for a week in the sun will have to spend more money than they did last year as the recent slump in the pound against the euro has resulted in prices rising in 80 per cent of the most popular European beach resorts.
The pound fell to €1.23 yesterday, its weakest since June 2014, amid growing uncertainty in the run-up to June’s referendum over the UK’s membership of the European Union. This means that having a meal, a drink or buying a tub of suncream in many European destinations has become more expensive for British holidaymakers, according to the Post Office Travel Money’s latest holiday costs barometer.
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