logo
House prices in UK fall 0.8% in June 2025: Nationwide data

House prices in UK fall 0.8% in June 2025: Nationwide data

Time of Indiaa day ago
LONDON: British house prices fell by 0.8% in June, a sharper fall than forecast and the biggest monthly decline in more than two years, as a discount on property transactions ended, data from mortgage lender Nationwide showed on Tuesday.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.2% monthly increase.
For the year, house prices were 2.1% higher than a year ago, below a 3.5% rise in May and lagging a consensus for a 3.1% annual increase.
"The softening in price growth may reflect weaker demand following the increase in stamp duty at the start of April," Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, said.
"Nevertheless, we still expect activity to pick up as the summer progresses, despite ongoing economic uncertainties in the global economy, since underlying conditions for potential homebuyers in the UK remain supportive."
Other measures of Britain's housing market have shown a mixed picture after the expiry of a temporary tax discount scheme for first-time homebuyers ended.
Bank of England
data on Monday showed lenders approved more mortgages than expected in May, helped by lower borrowing costs.
The BoE held interest rates at 4.25% last month, and investors expect the central bank to reduce borrowing costs in two further quarter-point moves to 3.75% by the end of the year.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump recommends daughter-in-law Lara Trump for North Carolina Senate seat: See her net worth and career roles
Trump recommends daughter-in-law Lara Trump for North Carolina Senate seat: See her net worth and career roles

Hindustan Times

time31 minutes ago

  • Hindustan Times

Trump recommends daughter-in-law Lara Trump for North Carolina Senate seat: See her net worth and career roles

President Donald Trump has suggested his first choice to replace Senator Thom Tillis (North Carolina-R) who will not be seeking re-election in 2026. Lara Trump, the wife of Trump's son Eric Trump, has been suggested as a possible replacement. Trump recommends daughter-in-law Lara Trump for North Carolina Senate seat: See her net worth and career roles (REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo)(REUTERS) "Somebody that would be great is Lara. She grew up there, but they live in Florida. She's a great person, Lara Trump. I mean, that would always be my first choice. But she doesn't live there now, but she's there all the time,' Trump said during a conversation with reporters aboard Air Force One recently. As of May 7, 2025, Celebrity Net Worth reports Lara Trump's net worth to stand at $20 million. Not only is this a result of her marrying into one of America's most affluent families but also a product of her former work in television production, aspiring musical passions, and public speaking roles. News production From 2012-16, Lara worked as a producer and story coordinator for the tabloid television show 'Inside Edition'. She later transitioned into a contributor for the Fox News Channel in 2021, a brief stint that ended in December 2022 following Trump's announcement to run for re-election, since the channel did not keep employees with connections to active political candidates. Although her exact salary from Fox remains unknown, Glassdoor reports that contributors earn somewhere between $61,655 and $67,195 annually. This amount could be higher for her considering RedLasso's revelation of contributor salaries varying as per influence and audience appeal. Launched in 2020, 'The Right View' is a podcast featuring discussions with conservative women on key political and cultural issues. Political roles Lara played an active role in Trump's 2016 presidential campaign by championing the Trump-Pence Women's Empowerment Tour along with serving as a senior consultant to Brad Parscale, an advisor for the digital operations and data aspect of the 2020 campaign. In 2024, she was endorsed as co-chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC)- an outlet meant to raise funds to fulfill their mission of ensuring Trump a re-election to the White House. Once she stepped down from that role, she gave an interview to the New York Post where she hailed the president as a 'champion for women'. Music and books Lara's short but budding musical career broke out in 2023 when she dropped a cover of Tom Petty's 'I Won't Back Down' which secured the sixth spot on Billboard's Country Digital Song Sales Chart. 'Colors Don't Run', 'Anything is Possible' and 'Hero' are other songs in her discography. She also collaborated with BRAVE Books to create a Christian children's book titled 'The Never Give-Up Pup!' teaching the value of perseverance and hard work. "Lara Trump: A Look Into Her Political Ambitions" is a 2024 book by author James M Daniels that prominently features her. – By Stuti Gupta

Uber, Ola can now charge twice the base fare: What surge, dynamic pricing means
Uber, Ola can now charge twice the base fare: What surge, dynamic pricing means

Indian Express

time36 minutes ago

  • Indian Express

Uber, Ola can now charge twice the base fare: What surge, dynamic pricing means

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) announced on Tuesday (July 1) that cab aggregator companies such as Uber, Ola and Rapido may now charge customers up to twice the base fare as the maximum fare. The new Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2025, raised the previous limit of 1.5 times the base fare. 'The aggregator shall be permitted to charge a minimum of 50% lower than the base fare and a maximum dynamic pricing of two times the base fare…,' the guidelines said. Base fares are notified by the state governments for the corresponding category of motor vehicles. States have been advised to implement the revised guidelines within three months. What exactly is dynamic pricing, when do companies deploy the mechanism, and does it always prioritise drivers over customers? Is it the same as surge pricing? We explain. Companies resort to dynamic pricing models to benefit from the variations in the supply and demand of a product or service. This is, quite simply, market economics at work. Dynamic pricing follows the economic law of demand, which states that the price of a product will increase when its demand for an item or service increases in relation to its supply. This can happen due to a variety of factors. For example, in the case of cabs, rain can reduce the availability or the supply of cabs. The mechanism is widely used across several industries, including entertainment, utilities and hospitality. Amazon, for instance, has the dedicated 'Automate Pricing' tool, which allows sellers to set rules and parameters describing when and how prices may fluctuate for a range of products. However, the practice has also come under criticism. Last September, fans of the rock band Oasis held the ticketing platform Ticketmaster responsible for inflating concert ticket prices on checkout through dynamic pricing when the band announced its reunion tour in the UK. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had termed the price hike 'depressing'. The Indian Railways first experimented with dynamic pricing in 2006. The then-Railways Minister Lalu Prasad proposed a dynamic pricing scheme for both freight and passenger trains, impacting peak and non-peak seasons, as well as premium and non-premium services. In 2016, it was formally adopted with the Railways adopting the 'flexi-fare' scheme. Under the scheme, the base fares of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains would increase by 10% with every 10% of berths sold, capping at 1.5 times the original fare. While the terms 'dynamic pricing' and 'surge pricing' are used interchangeably, surge pricing is simply one dynamic pricing strategy. It refers to the additional fee demanded from the consumer during periods of high demand, such as rush hours, when traffic congestion is at its peak. Such fees are also applied to utilities, like electricity, and are used to help manage the supply and demand, preventing potential blackouts. In the case of ride-sharing aggregators, the premise is simple: Rush hours correspond with periods of increased demand for rides from the likes of Uber, Ola and Rapido. With a larger proportion of users in an area demanding the cab service compared to the number of drivers available there, ride prices in the area surge. This presents the consumer with two choices — booking the ride at the higher price, or waiting for prices to reduce. The surge pricing also helps attract more drivers to an area to benefit from the increased prices, which ultimately helps reduce and normalise fares. According to the Uber website, its drivers are made aware of the surge price through a multiplier to the standard rate, an additional surge amount, or an upfront fare including the surge amount, which incentivises them to accept rides. The surge pricing can vary within the areas of a city. The Uber Driver app indicates the area-wise demand spikes through a colour-coded scheme. 'Light orange areas represent smaller earning opportunities from surge, while dark red areas indicate larger ones,' according to the website. In 2016, Wharton Business School researchers Gerard P Cachon, Kaitlin M Daniels and Ruben Lobel argued that the surge pricing model, while critiqued, did benefit Uber consumers by helping subsidise prices during off-peak times. Their research compared the surge pricing model to a benchmark fixed price and found that it also allowed Uber to serve markets that would otherwise remain underserved under a fixed pricing model, such as consumers hailing a cab on a rainy night. They also noted that Uber allows drivers to 'self-schedule', or decide their operating schedule, allowing them to gravitate towards areas facing a driver shortage when surge prices are effective. (Cachon, Daniels, Lobel, 'The Role of Surge Pricing on a Service Platform with Self-Scheduling Capacity', SSRN, 2016)

HK shares end lower as tech stocks weigh on fears of e-commerce price war
HK shares end lower as tech stocks weigh on fears of e-commerce price war

Mint

timean hour ago

  • Mint

HK shares end lower as tech stocks weigh on fears of e-commerce price war

(Updates to market close) SHANGHAI, July 3 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares closed down on Thursday, led by tech stocks, as investors fretted that intensifying competition among e-commerce giants could squeeze profit margins. China stocks ended higher. ** China's blue-chip CSI300 Index closed up 0.6%, while the Shanghai Composite Index was 0.2% higher. Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng was down 0.6%. ** E-commerce giant Alibaba shares listed in Hong Kong fell nearly 3%, leading declines in Hong Kong, after the company announced a 50-billion-yuan ($6.98 billion) subsidy programme to merchants and customers on Wednesday. ** "Alibaba's plan to offer $7 bn of subsidies for food delivery and online retail implies competition is heating up again among China e-commerce companies," said UBS analysts. ** Shares of on-demand delivery giant Meituan dropped 2.5%, while fell 2.1%. ** Meanwhile, a prominent Chinese Communist Party publication called for a crackdown on competition that fuels price wars and squeezes profits in various industries, criticising large companies and local governments for unfair practices. ** China's services activity expanded at the slowest pace in nine months in June, as demand weakened and new export orders declined amid a fragile trade truce with the United States, a private sector survey showed on Thursday. ** China's semiconductor shares were little moved after U.S. chip design software developers said they have received notices lifting restrictions on exports to China. ** China is assessing the trade deal between the United States and Vietnam, and will safeguard its own rights and interests if needed, a spokesperson for China's commerce ministry said on Thursday. ** Healthcare shares led gains onshore, up 1.2%, as Beijing ramped up policy support for the country's innovative drugs. ** Biotech stocks also rose in Hong Kong, with Ascentage up 6.2%. ($1 = 7.1643 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Vijay Kishore)

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store