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Published: 21 July 2021

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The average asking price of a home has jumped to £338,447 - a record high for the fourth month in a row and £21,389 higher than it was just six months ago, says property website Rightmove.

The first half of this year was the busiest it has ever recorded with 140,000 more sales agreed than average as the stamp duty holiday helped drive purchases.

The surge triggered a shortfall of 225,000 homes for sale with the average number available per estate agency branch at a record low of 16, compared to an average for this time of year of 31. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Daily Mail

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Published: 14 July 2021

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Plans for a 'death tax' that would have hit grieving families with bills of up to £6,000 have been replaced with proposals for a flat fee.

Probate charges for individual executors will increase from current fees of £215 to £273, a 27 per cent jump. Professional users of the probate system, such as solicitors, will see fees rise 76 per cent from £155 to the new flat rate.

It comes after the Government dropped controversial plans that would have seen 280,000 families a year pay on a 'sliding scale' tied to the value of the deceased's estate. If instigated, 56,000 families would be left facing bills of £2,500 to £6,000 to secure probate - the term given to the legal right to a dead person's property, money and possessions. Estates valued at less than £5,000 or less will continue to be exempt from the new fee, due to be introduced early next year.

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Published: 08 July 2021

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House prices have dipped for the first time in five months after the stamp duty holiday came to an end. The price of a typical home was £260,358 in June, down by 0.5 per cent compared to May, says Halifax. Although that figure was still 8.8 per cent, or £21,000. higher than a year ago, experts said it was an early sign that the market is starting to lose steam and that 'peak buyer demand' may now have passed. 

It was the first drop in prices since January and came ahead of the tapering of the stamp duty holiday from July 1st. Estate agents had predicted that price growth may stall as that deadline approached, although many remain bullish about the rest of the summer. 

The boom in prices over the past year has been fuelled by the duty holiday - which exempted homes worth £500,000 or less from tax - as well as demand from families seeking bigger homes with gardens after months of lockdowns.

Russell Galley, Halifax's managing director, said that many buyers would still pay minimal tax with the stamp duty threshold set to be £250,000 until October 1st when it will return to the normal level of £125,000. But he added: 'We would still expect annual growth to have slowed somewhat more by the end of the year, with unemployment expected to edge higher as job support measures unwind, and the peak of buyer demand now likely to have passed.'

Matt Oliver

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Published: 08 July 2021

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Cities may have to ban wood burning stoves to drive down pollution, a government minister warned yesterday. The fashionable burners are said to be responsible for up to 40 per cent of fine particles known as PM2.5, the most damaging form of air pollution.

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow was asked by MPs why the government did not make them illegal in cities, while allowing them in rural areas in homes not connected to gas. 'All these things will have to come under a microscope,' she told the Environment Food and Rural affairs select committee, also suggesting that barbecues at street markets could face a ban.

Around 1.5million UK homes are thought to have wood burning stoves and Bill Parish, air pollution head at the Defra ministry told the panel: 'It's difficult I think to impose a complete ban at this point.' But he added: 'If you wanted to drive down levels of particulates in London you'd have to take more action on domestic combustion.'

The Stove Industry Alliance disputes that 40 per cent of particulates come from wood burning stoves, saying that barbecues, firepits, pizza ovens and bonfires are also to blame.

                                                                                                                                                                                 Colin Fernandez  Environment Correspondent, Daily Mail