Home sales picking up

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.

Home sales picking up

Rightmove says it’s seen increased buyer and seller activity following a cut to stamp duty earlier this month. In England, agreed sales were 35% higher five days after chancellor Rishi Sunak’s summer statement. The property website also said that asking prices are going up, suggesting sellers may be feeling more optimistic about their chances.

Adviser comment: "Evidence of increasing activity in the housing market is generally a good sign, although we recommend reading our article on house prices to ensure that you understand how to read these headlines."

Tiktok's not coming to town

Talks about a Tiktok global HQ in London have ground to a halt as tensions rise between China, the UK, and the US. The video sharing app has billions of users worldwide, and had planned to base itself in London. But authorities are worried that its parent company Bytedance might come under pressure from the Chinese government to share user data.

Market betters getting burned

Since the start of the pandemic there’s been a steep rise in people betting on financial markets*. The increased volatility gave amateur traders a chance to gamble on the markets’ next move with “spread -betting”s and “contracts for difference”contracts-for-difference. But these risky strategies have seen traders hit by far heavier losses than they were seeing back in January, leading many to speculate that regulators will step in.

Adviser comment: "These are strategies for more ‘sophisticated’ investors - most people should use more traditional funds. They have added risks, including losing more than you actually invested, sudden or larger than expected losses (or gains), and having your positions closed unexpectedly."

Klarna’s clamping down

Klarna has seen business boom during the lockdown, with more people shopping online and many facing increased financial uncertainty at the same time. The buy now, pay later service says it has a default rate of less than 1% and is tightening its criteria to make sure it’s only used by people who can afford to make the payments.