House prices, consumer confidence, tax bills and holiday costs

August saw a ‘slight pick-up’ in house price growth despite the Brexit vote, according to the Nationwide building society, but the outlook is still ‘clouded’.

The building society said prices rose by 0.6 per cent compared with July, making the average cost of a home £206,145. Prices in August were 5.6 per cent higher than a year earlier, compared with 5.2 per cent in July. ‘The pick-up in price growth is somewhat at odds with signs that housing market activity has slowed in recent months,’ Nationwide said. Meanwhile, The Telegraph reports that families should be blocked from selling their homes if they fail to meet minimum energy efficiency standards, under radical proposals from a Conservative think-tank. Households should also be forced to install measures such as insulation or new boilers when they carry out other home improvement works, under the proposals from Bright Blue. The tough new regulations to tackle draughty homes should be accompanied by new schemes to help households afford the required upgrades, such as ‘Help to Improve’ loans and ISAs akin to the Help to Buy home ownership schemes, the think-tank suggests in a report.