OBR says that living standards are forecast to rise by just 1% over the whole post-Covid decade
Martin Lewis said that, when he met John Healey this morning, the chancellor said that, having removed standing charges from gas bills, he would also like to get rid of them from electricity bills. Lewis said:
The chancellor said he will be talking to Ofgem about how they get rid of the charge on electricity as well, but that is ‘trickier’ apparently and will take longer.
Continue reading...The story of the emirates’ presence in Manchester winds from the Arab Spring to some of the most deprived places in England – with complicated results
When Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s long-ruling dictator, was toppled from power in the Arab spring protests of 2011, his downfall sent shock waves across the Middle East. It also helped change the face of modern Manchester.
Mubarak’s successor, the Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi, was a sworn enemy of the United Arab Emirates, whose rulers feared the advance of Morsi’s Islamism.
Continue reading...As house prices plateau, the gap between the cost of buying and renting is narrowing in dozens of suburbs
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
High rents and falling property prices have opened a rare window for Australian tenants to become homeowners, with mortgage repayments cheaper than rent in dozens of suburbs.
Guardian Australia’s analysis of Cotality data shows that median rents in inner-city Melbourne, suburban Canberra and Darwin are now nearly matching weekly home loan repayments.
In one in 10 suburbs and towns across the country, repayments are less than $200 a week higher than rent, for the typical property. In some suburbs, they are actually cheaper.
Continue reading...Tenants encouraged to seek free options after online property platforms respond to Reserve Bank’s credit card payment reform
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Online property management platforms are charging renters new fees or pushing them on to paid “memberships” to avoid processing costs associated with card payments in the wake of the ban on surcharges.
Tenants have been encouraged to challenge or bypass additional fees charged by so-called rent-tech platforms, including in Victoria, where fees on rent payments are banned.
Continue reading...Labour could pay price for disappearance of parks and playgrounds around Euston station
When HS2 construction began around London’s Euston station in 2017 and people living nearby watched parks and playgrounds give way to diggers and rubble, they were promised that the lost green space would be replaced. “They have to give it all back,” said Dorothea Hackman. “But they are destroying it – so there’s nothing to give back.”
As the dust from the political party conference season begins to settle, disappearing green spaces and housing developments have become central issues in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection. On Thursday, Labour and the Green party will contest the seismic seat vacated by the former prime minster Keir Starmer.
Continue reading...A researcher at a climate change think tank says the Conservative policy would be a ‘disaster for first time buyers’
Yesterday, as a gimmick, the Tories were handing out “Bottler Burnham” bottles of water (“0% strength”) to make a point about Burnham supposedly cancelling plans for an early election under pressure from the Tories. It is a version of a stunt they pulled in 2008 when they gave journalists bottles of a “Bottler Brown” beer. (Gordon Brown did pull plans for an early election at the last minute; this time the jibe is unfair, because there were no Burnham plans for an early election.)
The new bottles feature the image of Burnham produced by the Manchester artist Stan Chow.
The SNP’s effective ban on new nuclear energy in Scotland flies in the face of common-sense.
No part of Great Britain should be missing out on plans for new nuclear renewal.
Continue reading...Demonstrators take to the streets of Madrid and other Spanish cities after new legislation fails to pass
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Madrid and other Spanish cities as they step up demands for action to tackle a mounting housing crisis after government measures were struck down by the opposition.
Demonstrators on Saturday waved posters calling for a general strike after the measures drawn up to address mass anger over the eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid, and other housing issues, were rejected in parliament on Friday.
Continue reading...Opposition lawmakers join forces to defeat proposals made by Socialist-led coalition after eviction of 87-year-old
Rightwing lawmakers in Spain have rejected emergency measures put forward to tackle the country’s housing crisis, pitting a fractured parliament against the widespread protest movement that has swelled in recent days.
On Friday Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist-led coalition put forward two decrees that included a range of measures aimed at improving access to housing, from a ban on evictions until 2030 to the regulation of temporary lettings and lettings by room.
Continue reading...Cotality data shows median house prices fell in September as interest rates hit borrowing capacity
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Housing prices are falling in almost every suburb in Australia’s biggest cities, with values dropping faster in Brisbane than Sydney as the slowdown intensifies.
Prices nationally have fallen 5.2% from their peak in March to where they were a year ago, Cotality data released on Thursday shows.
Continue reading...Measures, which need to be approved in Congress, include extending ban on evictions of vulnerable people
Spain’s Socialist Workers’ party-led coalition government has approved a range of measures aimed at easing the country’s housing crisis, including extending a ban on evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, after a public outcry over the eviction of an 87-year-old disabled woman from her Madrid apartment last week.
Two decrees have been approved by cabinet but will need to be approved in Congress, where the coalition lacks a majority. The government has requested a special parliamentary session on Friday in the hope of getting the decrees passed as soon as possible.
Continue reading...Outcome of meetings of Reserve Bank on Monday and Tuesday will affect Australian mortgage rates, household budgets and house prices
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Australia’s key interest rate is expected to hit its highest level since 2011, drag down house prices and add more than $100 to typical monthly mortgage repayments.
The Reserve Bank board is poised to hike the cash rate from 4.35% to 4.6% on Tuesday, which would be the fourth increase in 2026 and push typical home loan interest rates to 6.5%.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Policy initiative for England will help more young people on to property ladder, prime minister tells Guardian
A new help-to-buy scheme aimed at giving first-time buyers who cannot rely on the “bank of mum and dad” is to be introduced in a big policy announcement by Andy Burnham.
The programme, called “Your first home”, is intended to help buyers in England who have a regular income but have been unable to save for a large deposit or don’t have financial support from their family.
Continue reading...Researcher says public debate since May budget has overstated how much reforms will cost landlords and investors
Get our new political email, free app or daily news podcast
Most property investors may end up paying less capital gains tax after Labor’s budget reforms, research based on an analysis of historical data suggests.
The e61 Institute’s analysis also found half of all landlords would have faced higher costs from the loss of negative gearing over the period from 2008 to 2025 if the new system had been in place, suggesting the tax reforms alone cannot explain a slump in investment demand.
Continue reading...RBA governor says AI is ‘great white hope’ but its adoption is so far adding to inflation, rather than economic growth
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
The Reserve Bank governor said AI could be a bubble and there was no evidence it is making the economy more efficient, as the Albanese government claims the technology will solve Australia’s economic malaise.
Ahead of an expected interest rate rise next week Michele Bullock also said the slump in house prices was deeper than others in Australia’s recent history.
Continue reading...It comes after the Green leader, who is standing as a candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, recorded a campaign video in Urdu
Andrew Griffith has delivered his speech, and he is now taking questions.
Q: You want the government to pause the making tax digital programme. Is that an admission that the last government got this wrong when it introduced it?
It is an admission that despite [good] intentions, the execution of that has left a lot to be desired.
In fact, coming to parliament from business, I can confess the law that we pass the most often is the law of unintended consequences. And I think making tax digital is a good example of that.
The truth is that Burnham and Miliband ignored the advice they were given – which was that if they were determined to sanction Israel, they should not do so before the Israeli election on 27 October.
It may not be surprising that this was the message from the Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, when Miliband called him on 11 August to warn sanctions were imminent. ‘He said postpone it until after the elections,’ a diplomatic source confirms. It was also the message the Israeli embassy in London – and its new chargé d’affaires Chris Cantor – was relaying to the Foreign Office. ‘Their message was clear: why do it now? Wait until after the elections, because something might change,’ a senior Labour figure says.
Continue reading...Local council and state government attempting to move on residents living in an encampment by the river in Wagga Wagga
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
The New South Wales government paid for a homeless man in Wagga Wagga to be sent back to New Zealand instead of offering him temporary accommodation, in an attempt to move on residents living in an encampment by a river.
The local council and state government have been attempting to clear out the encampment for several months after a newborn baby died in May when its mother gave birth to twins in a tent.
Continue reading...Some buyers say they are ready to absorb the fallout of housing weakness if it means boosting home ownership across the board
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Falling property prices have come at the worst possible time for Alex Hogan and his partner. They are now weighing up whether they can afford to have another child.
Locked out of the established housing market, the Queensland couple resorted to buying a block of land to build a family home.
Continue reading...Exclusive: New entrants the only cohort making more loan applications amid interest rate rises and tax changes, mortgage broker says
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
First home buyers are still taking out a large number of loans, with government backing, even as investors step back from Australia’s property market.
New entrants are now the only cohort applying for more loans than they were in June, according to new data from the mortgage broker network Loan Market.
Continue reading...Move would allow mayors to greenlight large-scale developments and have more say on national housing funding
Andy Burnham is expected to give mayors new powers to take control of local planning decisions and greenlight large-scale developments in proposals to be presented next week.
The move would allow mayors to “call in” the decisions and direct councils to take them forward or refuse them.
Continue reading...Aalim Ahmed, five, fell from 15th-floor window at tower block family had asked to be moved out of, court hears
An inquest into the death of a five-year-old boy who fell from a 15th-floor window has heard that more measures could have been taken to make it safer.
Aalim Ahmed, who was autistic, died when he fell from a kitchen window at a residential block in Plaistow, east London. His father, Makail Ahmed, rushed from the top floor temporary social housing flat and discovered his body shortly before 6am on 16 May 2024.
Continue reading...