Further evidence has been published that house prices are slowing down in England and Wales. The Land Registry said that the annual inflation rate for residential properties fell in September to 8.7%, down from 9.4% in August.

The figures back up other recent surveys, such as those from lenders, surveyors and the Department of Communities and Local Government.

The Land Registry said the fall in September was a “noticeable dip”.

The constant increase in house prices seems to be slowing with the recent interest rate hikes finally kicking in it seems. A recent survey by Nationwide shows August inflation to be just 0.6% giving a moving annual figure of 9.6% - down 0.3% from July.

It is more of a tap on the brakes than an emergency stop, but the slowdown may follow the same pattern as the rate rises. They’re only just starting to have an affect, so we’ll probably see a greater affect in September and the run up to Christmas.

Well, maybe…

You’re there with your degree in your hand, your whole career ahead of you, and a £2000 overdraft in your bank account… But it doesn’t matter because the bank has given you 18 months to pay it off before thay start hitting you with 10% apr.

Share prices continued to recover after the recent US slump. Hope of a US rate reduction has led to increased investment and hiopefully a recovery in terms of share prices.

Many companmies have had millions wiped off their values in the recent slump.

Despite a huge numbers of people losing their possessions and houses (and some their lives) to the recent floods in the UK, insurance companies are moaning about the cost of floods.

The Association of British Insurers has written to the government to ask for increased flood protection. Now this further pressure is a good thing in that the governement do need to wake up on this and do something about flood risks. However, the motives will be purely selfish from insurers.

People with bad credit are finding it harder to secure mortgages which is a bad sign for those with mounting debt. Banks and building societies are seing bad credit customers as too high a risk due to spiralling debts and the UK’s credit culture. There is bad news for those who already have bad credit mortgages as interest rate rises coupled with increased risks to banks will mean hikes in these existing mortgage rates.

Barclays and HSBC have this week denied they are unhappy with the HIPS that are rquired for all 4 bedroom and above properties. This comes after news the scheme is being rolled out to 3 bed properties too.
Some sources claimed the banks were to ignore the packs as they did not trust the information within them. However spokespersons for both banks have denied this.

Unfortunately it seems these packs may actually become part of the already laborious task of selling your property.

The UK economy is continuing the blossom despite interest rates rising 1.25 percentage points in less than a year. The continued growth of the economy means we look set for further rate rises in the near future.

The Bank of England was hoping to curb spending and hence inflation rates by initiating the highest series of rate rises for a good few years but it doesn’t appear to have worked.

A judge has ordered Lloyds TSB to pay the costs of a customer who sued for the return of overdraft fees, because the bank had wasted the court’s time. Judge Andrew Kearney, at Bristol County Court, ordered the bank to pay £85.41 for “acting unreasonably”.

He said the bank had had no intention of defending in court the claim, by Vivien Lloyd, for the refund of £655.

Can they not yet make cat food that doesn’t smell? What’s going on?! The cat is sat there chomping on some ‘meaty’ chunks in jelly and it reeks. Surely someone should have come up with odourless cat food by now!
By the way “Myself, I am the castrated bollocks” is an anagram of “my cats breath [...]