House prices drop for the first time in a year
Property experts have been predicting a slowing of annual house price growth for a while and in July the average cost of buying a home fell by 0.1% to £293,221, according to Halifax. Is this a temporary blip, or – given rising interest rates and soaring inflation – a sign of things to come?
Time to review IHT laws?
In June, the government raked in a record £726 million through the Inheritance Tax, up from £564 million in May. The increases in house prices over the past 12 months have pushed up the value of estates, meaning more people are stung by the 40% levy. Is it time the government had a rethink?
The luxury car boom
According to consultancy firm McKinsey, the luxury car market is set to grow by 8-14% by 2031, with variations between high-end vehicle price tiers. That compares to just 1% growth in the non-luxury market. The predicted growth is partly attributed to affluent owners switching to electric vehicles and an increase in wealthy Chinese car buyers.
Got space in your wardrobe for this?
Buzz Aldrin’s inflight jacket, worn on his first mission to the moon, sold at auction for $2.77 million dollars in July, making it the most expensive space artefact to ever go under the hammer. It’s also the most expensive jacket ever sold at auction, taking the title from one owned by another famous moonwalker, Michael Jackson. The King of Pop’s red leather jacket, worn in the Thriller music video, sold for $1.8 million in 2011.
Prices are going loco
At an auction of toys, models and collectables in the Yorkshire town of Leyburn last month, a rare model engine was sold for £16,000 plus the buyer’s premium. The O Gauge 2-6-2T Class 3MT locomotive was the creation of Hampshire train maker, James Stanley Beeson, and it fell just short of the record price paid for one of his models. The moral of this story? If you have a model train set in the attic, it might be worth bringing it down and dusting it off.
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