January jump for house prices

Monday 20th 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.

House prices on the up

January started with a bang for the housing market as prices rose at the fastest rate on record for this time of the year, according to Rightmove. The average price of properties leapt by 2.3%, the biggest increase in this period since its website started recording the figure back in 2002. The boost comes as sellers and buyers feel more confident about the stability of the market following the general election.

Train case pulling into court

Stagecoach will take its case against the government to the High Court later, over a row about rail franchises. The UK rail operator claims the bidding process for three franchises last year was mismanaged. It was prevented from throwing its hat into the ring because it didn’t meet pensions rules.

Scam ads not stopped

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned unregulated mini-bonds from advertising to savers, but scam websites are finding loopholes (paywall). Search ads are appearing that claim (falsely) to offer mini-bonds protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. FCA boss Andrew Bailey has called for online harms legislation to cover such scams, while Google has said the FCA guidelines on mini-bonds aren’t clear enough.

Tax breaks for sibling housemates?

Elderly siblings who live together often have to resort to selling off the family home to cover hefty inheritance tax bills when their brother or sister dies. But now a new bill is going to the House of Lords (paywall) this week which could see siblings enjoy similar tax breaks that are currently enjoyed by married couples and civil partners.

How the UK ranks for data breaches  

Third worst. Behind France who took the top spot with the most offences and Germany who snatched second-worst. A recent report found that 160,000 data breaches were reported across European nations that adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules. The UK made up 22,000 of these cases and paid €320,000  of the €114 million total paid so far in fines. However, this could change when fines for British Airways and Mariott are finalised.