Spectator money

House prices have grown faster than predicted, The Telegraph reports, despite concerns that buyers would hold back ahead of this month’s EU referendum and a lull in the market after the buy-to-let-surge earlier in the year. The annual rate of growth in May was 9.2 per cent, unchanged since April, according to Halifax. Prices had been expected to rise 8.9 per cent in the year to May. House prices in the three months to May were 1.4 per cent higher, after a dip of 0.8 per cent in the three months to April. The fact that house prices have not dropped off substantially is ‘encouraging’ said Jeremy Leaf, a former chairman of the Royal

Gloomy news on the front page of The Times this morning: according to a poll for the paper, one in three middle-class people could not pay an unexpected bill without resorting to borrowing. According to research by YouGov showing the squeeze on household finances, 31 per cent of middle-class voters — so-called ABC1s including professional, junior managerial and administrative workers — would struggle with a sudden bill of up to £500. Forty-six per cent of manual workers and the unemployed would not be able to afford the bill. Since the financial crisis, wages have fallen by up to 10 per cent on some calculations when adjusted for inflation. According to the Office

Life would have been much more simple if I’d been born with the same surname as my wife. The hassle she is going through since our recent wedding changing her surname on such things as pensions, credit cards and bank accounts is a pain. To alter the details in your passport though – as we’ve found out – is an extra layer of annoyance. The UK Passport Office charges £72.50 to change surname letters (in our case, six) on the particulars, even if the expiry date of your previous one is still many years off, as my wife’s was. It seems grossly unfair to the hundreds of thousands of (mainly) women who might want

Every time George Osborne takes hold of a red box he seems to come up with another tax-free savings vehicle. Or so it appears to Individual Savings Account (ISA) savers, who two years ago had two straightforward choices: cash or stocks and shares. Cash for the risk averse, stocks and shares for the risk aware. Now, depending on your home ownership status and attitude to risk, there are two more options in the mix – the Help to Buy ISA and the Innovative Finance ISA, and one on the way – the Lifetime ISA. Which to choose? How much to save in each? Navigating the new savings maze requires more

It’s officially summer but not in New Malden. I got home at 7pm last night in near darkness and pouring rain. Normally, closing the front door behind me and casting off my rain gear is enough to bring some relief. But not this time. The rain followed me in. As I walked into my kitchen I was greeted by an all too familiar sound – drip, drip, drip. My leak is back. The long story cut short is that water is getting in where the single-storey kitchen extension joins the old back wall – and not for the first time. I’ve previously spent more than £2,000 trying to put it right. The

Did you spend the bank holiday weekend with a hammer in your hand, making countless trips to B&Q and cursing the barbecue’s failure to light? If so, you weren’t alone. New research by Lloyds Bank has revealed that DIY spending has reached its highest level since 2008. Nearly ten years on from the financial crisis, confidence has returned to housing market. Although putting up a shelf or mowing the lawn may not seem like an economic indicator, experts say that an upsurge in home improvements is good news. Andrew Mason, Lloyds Bank mortgage products director, said: ‘Taking a DIY approach to home improvements helps cut costs and provides homeowners with

Gardening is the nation’s favourite hobby, contributing £9 billion to the economy annually. Just looking at the numbers of people who attend flower shows and garden centres, it’s clear to see that it’s big business. As Chelsea ends and Harlow Carr, Hampton Court and Wisley follow, even the TV programmes have trouble keeping up. A well-maintained and attractive garden can boost a property’s value by 10 to 15 per cent, according to Knight Frank estate agents. In the UK, 93 per cent of the population have an outdoor space or grow plants. Over the years, garden owners can spend thousands of pounds but many may not realise the increasing value

We’re failing our children with financial education by postcode lottery. The subject finally found its way into the curriculum for secondary schools in England two years ago but if anyone thinks the job’s done, they couldn’t be more wrong. It’s true that all English comprehensive schools now have to cover the subject within maths and citizenship classes – the devolved nations have been teaching it for years. But there’s no assessment and no mandatory teacher training. Free schools and academies don’t have to teach it either. It’s hardly a winning formula and means that while some schools are teaching the topic brilliantly, others do so abysmally. And there’s little to

Pity the taxman. As reviled professions go, it’s up there with estate agents, traffic wardens and, er, journalists. Now comes the news that more than three million people may have paid the wrong tax after chaos at HM Revenue & Customs left callers waiting for over an hour to speak to staff last year. In a stinging report, the National Audit Office said that the quality of service at HMRC ‘collapsed’ over an 18-month period between 2014 and 2015. Call waiting times tripled during that time, as some customers were kept on hold for up to an hour. One in five callers – 4.2 million people – hung up after waiting an average of

On a quiet news day, not much happens if you’re a reporter. It’s tempting to sit back, surf the internet, check your social media profiles and mull over dinner prospects. Then there’s the lure of online shopping sites: ASOS, Amazon, you name it, they’re there at the click of a button. Ordering online can be dangerous. It doesn’t really feel like spending money, particularly if you have a debit or credit card set up already. All it takes is a few seconds to spend hundreds of pounds. I know because I’ve done it. Now comes the news that we are moving ever closer to becoming a cashless society. According to