House prices rose by 1% last month, according to Halifax, and the average house is now worth £179,043. But the annual growth rate has eased from 9.4% in June to 8.2% last month. Halifax thinks this pattern will continue, with the annual rate of growth ending the year at around 5%.
Stamp duty up
Homebuyers paid more than £1 billion in tax during the three months to June, 30% more than in the quarter before, despite the starting point for stamp duty being raised in March. The average homebuyer paid £3,735 stamp duty in the second quarter of this year.
Footsie slides despite Friday’s gains
The FTSE 100 closed down 70 points last week at 5,879 although it rallied on Friday as the price of crude oil fell
Over the past 12 months the index has risen by 10.8%
Over three years the index is up by 3
Over five years the index has risen by 16%
Stanley Leisure had the biggest gain, up 25.4% to 853p
Tomkins was the biggest faller, down 14.3% to 244.8p