Like much of 2022, December was another rollercoaster ride for investors. Here are some of the stories that caught our eye last month…
Bleak outlook for British manufacturing
Manufacturers are worried Britain has become less attractive to foreign investors, according to an industry survey. Less than a third of those polled by the trade body Make UK and accountants PwC believed the UK was a competitive location compared to 63% a year ago, while more than two-thirds indicated they’d have to cut staff in the coming months because of spiralling energy costs.
London suburb defies property price crash
The average house price in the UK fell for the fourth month in a row in December, according to the Halifax. But not all postcodes are equal — the leafy London district of Chiswick saw a 27% price increase in the year up to September 2022, according to a Bloomberg report. A local estate agent believes it’s because W4 has “excellent transport links to central London” while simultaneously offering a “taste of the country.”
10 classic vehicles to buy in 2023
Looking to invest in the inflation-busting classic car market? Insurers Hagerty have named the 10 collectable motors they believe will spike in price in 2023, with the 80s-tastic Citroen BX and Mk1 Ford Fiesta among the more eyebrow-raising inclusions.
Honey, I shrunk the cars
If you like your classic vehicles a little more… ‘bijou’ (and have a spare £30,000 knocking about), you could invest in one of The Little Car Company’s scaled-down, electric recreations of iconic motors such as the Aston Martin DB5 or Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. The weeny whips are road-legal and, according to company founder Ben Hedley, show that “electric cars can be fun and they don’t have to be 1,000 horsepower and 2.5 tonnes.”
The flyin’ King
Elvis Presley couldn’t help falling in love with private jets — he famously flew one from Memphis all the way to Denver just to eat a peanut butter, jelly and bacon sandwich. Earlier this month, a 1962 Lockheed 1329 JetStar once owned by the King sold for $260,000 — which doesn’t sound like a bad deal when you consider that he paid $840,000 for it in 1976. The trouble is, the plane has no engine and has been sitting in the desert for 40 years. So it may be some time before passengers are ‘All Shook Up’ by in-flight turbulence.
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