First-time buyer numbers up

Thursday, 2nd January

Get straight to the good stuff every day with the Multiply Minute; a lightning-quick round-up of the money news and how it affects you.

First timers feeling good

There were 353,436 first-time home buyers in 2019, the highest since 2007. Analysis by Yorkshire Building Society points to low mortgage rates making borrowing more accessible, as well as government schemes that lend a helping hand, such as stamp duty relief, equity loans, and help to buy ISAs. But numbers are yet to recover to the highs of 2006, when over 400,000 people stepped onto the property ladder for the first time.

Business struggled in Q4

Economic output was low at the tail-end of the decade thanks to the ongoing impacts of long-term uncertainty, according to a poll of 6,500 businesses by the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC). It predicts that GDP growth in the final quarter of 2019 will be just 0.22%.

New Year’s banking outage

Thousands of Halifax, Lloyds, and Bank of Scotland customers who fancied doing a bit of New Year life admin were locked out of online and mobile banking yesterday (paywall) due to an IT issue. Telephone banking services were operating as normal throughout, and online banking is now back up and running for everyone.

Got 2p going spare?

We all know the trick to New Year’s resolutions is to start with small, achievable steps. This year, people are tackling the 'penny challenge', a saving hack which sees you put 1p away on the 1st January, 2p on the 2nd (today) all the way until the last day of the year (£3.66). If you stick with it, you’ll have £671.61 stashed away to spend in 2021.