New figures have revealed that house prices rose by 0.8% during January as values bounced back after steep falls amid the pre-Christmas snow disruption.
Leading mortgage giant, Halifax said the average cost of a home in Britain rose to £164,173 last month, but this followed a 1.3% plunge in December as snowed-in buyers stayed away from the market.
Its quarter-on-quarter measure of house prices - seen as a smoother indicator of market trends - registered a drop of 0.7%, according to the group.
More doom and gloom for consumers as today we hear that EDF Energy has become the last of the big six suppliers to rise its prices from next month. Standard tariffs for electricity bills will rise by an average 7.5%, while gas bills will increase by an average of 6.5%. An average annual standard dual fuel bill paid by direct debit will rise by £68 to £1,051, or an extra £1.31 a week, after the March 2 hike.
(Sitting in the dark and washing in cold water may save a few pennies?)
It should be noted however that EDF, which has 5.5 million customers in the UK, held its prices through the
The UK's most prestigious home and product design awards return for their 6th year.
The search has begun for people with passion who have transformed their homes, and for the brains or inventors behind brilliant products.
The competition is FREE and OPEN TO ALL, so you don't have to be a professional architect or designer to enter.
If you've designed a fabulous new house, redesigned or converted a crumbling ruin, added a remarkable extension or sompleted a cutting edge ego project these awards are for you.
Visit http://www.grandesignsawards.com for further information, and remember
Hi everyone, just reminding you that we've uploaded quite a few new properties for auction into our database this week. Merseyside, Kent and Scotland being key areas. London property will start being uploaded over the weekend and from next week more catalogues will be released for all over the UK.
To view full property details, photos, maps, streetviews, local services, auctioneer contact details, auction calendar dates, etc... become a fully fledged UKAL member for just £9.95 a month or £19.95 for 3 months. Register today!
And remember if you're thinking about selling your property
Are you interested in putting your property in to auction?
UK Auction List has teamed with some of the leading auction houses within the UK to help you put your property on the market. Simply visit our SELLING section http://www.ukauctionlist.com/selling/property-auction-enquiry-form (or click on the Selling box on our homepage) to complete our property auction enquiry form. On receipt of the form, we will contact you to discuss the next steps and answer any questions about the auction process, that you might have.
Alternatively you can call us on 0845 053 6906 to discuss your
We just thought we'd share some random facts about kitchen activity that we read about over coffee at the weekend.
Did you know....
6 million people in the UK have injured themselves or damaged their kitchens while trying to copy the recipes of celebrity chefs.
300 hours are saved every year by using a dishwasher instead of washing up the old fashioned way.
5.5 million toasters are sold each year in the UK alone!
1000 pots, pans and implements were used to break the record for the largest cityscape made using kitchen utensils. (St Paul's Cathedral was apparently a large oven dish)
London's Kensington and Chelsea is the most expensive place to buy real estate in the UK with half of the most expensive residential streets in the borough. The average price of a property in its Wycombe Square is £5.4 million.
The most expensive street in Scotland is Warriston Crescent in Edinburgh, a row of elegant townhouses next to the Water of Leith, with an average house price of £960,671.
Edinburgh has six of the top ten most expensive streets in Scotland.
In 2010 it was reported that these were the top 20 most expensive streets in England and Wales:
Wycombe Square
If you're preparing to sell your home, don't underestimate the importance of a good wash and brush up. You might think you need new furniture or a new bathroom suite to wow viewers, but often just banishing clutter and giving the place a thorough clean is what's needed. Mess and dirt will deter buyers who find it hard to see past it.
Wiping down skirting boards and walls may reduce the need to redecorate too as many marks will come off. Give the cooker, kitchen surfaces, windows and mirrors a good clean and dust ceilings as agents have told me viewers often look up when they are looking
The central London commercial property market has begun its recovery from the recession, research has suggested.
Last year saw an overall rise of 14 per cent in rental values across the capital, with the Docklands area seeing headline examples reaching an increase of 33 per cent from December 2009, according to research by Capita Symonds.
Alan Dornford, director of the company's real estate division, said: "The factors propelling the central London market, including the resurgence of the financial sector and strong interest from overseas investors, are likely to see the gap widen still
An H&M store is set to arrive in Huddersfield and the commercial property will be measured at roughly 17,000 sq ft.
The new site will create around 20 jobs when it opens in the town's Kingsgate Centre, with the company taking a 10-year lease at an annual rent of £275,000, according to the Huddersfield Daily Examiner.
A spokeswoman for H&M told the newspaper: "We're very much looking forward to opening there in the autumn and hope that the H&M business concept of fashion and quality at the best price for the whole family will be well received by local residents.