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The Independent
2 minutes ago
- The Independent
House prices ‘jump 6.1% annually in some parts of UK but fall by 5.0% in others'
Housing market activity has ramped up compared with summer 2024, bucking the usual seasonal slowdown, according to a property website. But despite the more bustling market, Zoopla's house price forecast for 2025 has halved, with the website saying that buyers are factoring increased stamp duty costs into their offers. Buyer demand is 11% higher compared with a year earlier, accompanied by an 8% increase in agreed sales, Zoopla said. Its figures compared the four weeks to June 20 2025 with the same period in 2024. The website said buyers have been looking to finalise deals before the August holidays slowdown. Recent changes to the way lenders assess mortgage affordability have been supporting housing market activity, it said. The changes, which followed clarification from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will enable some mortgage borrowers to take out bigger loans. But Zoopla added that higher stamp duty costs in England and Northern Ireland, following the end of temporary reliefs in April, are acting as a drag on house price inflation. Buyers will be looking to reflect increased stamp duty costs in what they offer for homes, it said. Due to higher house prices, stamp duty costs tend to have a bigger effect on buyers in southern England than in other areas, Zoopla added. The average UK house price was put at £268,400 – 1.3% higher than a year earlier. Although price growth is up from 0.4% last June, it has nearly halved from the 2.1% seen just six months ago in December 2024, according to the report. Scotland, Wales and northern England are generally experiencing faster house price inflation, typically between 2% to 3% annually, Zoopla said. It said Northern Ireland is a 'standout,' with prices up by 6.1% and by 7.8% in Belfast, albeit from a lower base. Southern England is seeing the weakest price inflation, ranging from 0.2% in the South East and London to 0.3% in the South West. Truro, Torquay and Exeter are registering some of the biggest price falls outside of London, with declines of 1.3%, 1.2% and 1.1% respectively, the report added. Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, said: 'We're seeing healthy levels of demand and sales, but this isn't sparking faster price inflation. 'In fact, more homes for sale, particularly across southern England, is re-enforcing a buyer's market, keeping price rises in check. Many more home buyers are paying stamp duty since April and want this extra cost reflected in the price they pay. 'While mortgage rates are holding steady, less stringent affordability testing has boosted buying power and is supporting more sales despite increased uncertainty. 'At the start of the year, we predicted house prices would rise just 2%, at the lower end of forecasts for house price inflation. Prices are on track to be 1% higher over 2025, half the level forecast. 'Greater supply of homes for sale and mortgage rates remaining higher than expected are the key reasons for weaker growth. Low house price inflation is not a bad thing so long as there is enough market confidence for people to list their homes and make bids to buy homes.' David Powell, CEO Andrews Property Group, said: 'The market continues to show incredible resilience, however the slow down in house prices is starting to impact consumer confidence illustrated by the increased numbers of properties currently on the market for sale.' Matt Thompson, head of sales at estate agency Chestertons, said: 'Compared to summer of last year, we have seen a more active property market which has been driven by an influx of vendors putting their home up for sale. This has given some house hunters a larger selection of properties to choose from which inevitably led to more contracts being exchanged. 'Some buyers, however, are still pausing their search in the hope that the Bank of England will announce another rate cut in August.' Here are the postal areas with the highest annual house price inflation in June 2025, according to Zoopla, followed by the average price of a home: 1. BT – Belfast, 6.1%, £186,500 2. HX – Halifax, 4.2%, £175,900 =3. FK – Falkirk, 3.6%, £167,500 =3. ML – Motherwell, 3.6%, £132,000 =3. TD – Tweeddale, 3.6%, £176,000 Here are the postal areas with the weakest annual house price inflation in June 2025, according to Zoopla, followed by the average price of a home: 1. WC – London, minus 5.0%, £823,000 2. W – London, minus 1.5%, £768,900 3. TR – Truro, minus 1.3%, £314,400 4. TQ – Torquay, minus 1.2% £293,700 5. EX – Exeter, minus 1.1%, £308,800
The Independent
2 minutes ago
- The Independent
Surging meat and tea prices drive food price inflation up for sixth month
Surging meat and tea prices sent food price inflation up for the sixth consecutive month in July, latest figures show. Food prices are now 4% higher than a year ago, up from 3.7% in June and the three-month average of 3.5%, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)-NIQ Shop Price Monitor. Fresh food inflation held steady at 3.2%, but ambient food prices jumped to 5.1% higher than last June, up from last month's 4.3%. Overall shop price inflation increased to 0.7% from June's 0.4% in June, and up from from the three-month average of 0.3%. BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: ' Families will have seen their food bills increase as food price inflation rose for the sixth consecutive month. 'Staples such as meat and tea were hit the hardest as wholesale prices for both categories have been hit by tighter global supplies. 'This has helped push up overall shop prices. There were a few bright spots, with discounts in fashion and furniture offering consumers a chance to refresh their wardrobe and homes.' Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at NIQ, said: 'Consumers' household budgets are coming under pressure with the food retailers now seeing price increases above CPI (Consumer Price Index). 'However, price competition helped by promotional activity will still mean that shoppers can save money by shopping around. 'With inflation on the up, high street retailers will also be concerned about customer retention over the summer holiday season if they are to maintain sales momentum.'
The Independent
2 minutes ago
- The Independent
Google launches AI Mode in the UK amid ‘major shift' in online search
Google has unveiled the UK rollout of a new artificial intelligence-powered tool it believes will revolutionise the traditional online search. Hailed as its most 'powerful AI search to date', the US tech giant is launching AI Mode in Google Search across the UK this week, allowing users to ask lengthy and complicated questions, as well as follow-ups. AI Mode will start to appear as a tab on the Google Search results page and in the Google app for Android and Apple smartphones from Tuesday, and will be available to all UK users over the next few days. The function was launched in the US at the end of May, followed by India earlier in July, and comes in addition to Google's AI Overview, which is now built into its searches. Hema Budaraju, Google's vice president of product management for search, told the PA news agency it heralds a 'major shift' in the way people are using online searches, with questions now becoming longer and more complex. In a blog announcing the launch, Ms Budaraju said: 'AI Mode is a new, intuitive way to address your most complex, multi-part questions and follow-ups, and satisfy your curiosity in a richer way.' She added: 'AI Mode is particularly helpful for exploratory questions and for more complicated tasks like comparing products, planning a trip or understanding complex how-tos. 'In fact, we've found that early users of AI Mode are asking questions that are two or three times the length of traditional search queries.' The tool is powered by Google's latest AI model, Gemini 2.5, and allows users to ask nuanced questions that would have previously required multiple searches. The new search works by breaking down questions into sub-topics and sending out a range of queries on the behalf of users. It will also allow so-called multimodal searches, either by text, voice or pictures. Ms Budaraju said it should make it possible for people to 'find information that was previously much harder to find'. 'This is the beginning of a major shift,' she told PA. Google said it was improving factuality, but that where AI Mode is not confident in the answer, it will instead provide a set of web search results. 'And as with any early-stage AI product, we won't always get it right, but we are committed to continuous improvement,' Ms Budaraju said.
