BBC NEWS | Programmes | Moneybox | Halifax and Abbey battle for savers Halifax and Abbey are set to fight it out for savers, after both began offering a staggering 7% interest on money paid into monthly savings accounts.

Find a Property - HOUSE PRICE PUZZLES They're issued every month by various counting houses and discussed like sacred texts by concerned consumers. But do house price statistics really add up to an accurate representation of the market? And what exactly is an 'average' house?

BBC NEWS | UK | Regional panel backs housing plan A controversial plan to build nearly 500,000 homes across east England has been given initial backing.

PricewaterhouseCoopers:
UK house prices at record levels relative to inheritance tax threshold
The property boom of the past seven years has pushed the ratio of house prices to the inheritance tax (IHT) threshold to record levels in most UK regions according to a new analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

BBC NEWS | UK | Decision due on 500,000 new homes A decision is due to be taken on Friday on whether to build nearly 500,000 homes in an area stretching from Norfolk to Buckinghamshire.

The Motley Fool UK: Buy-To-Let Doesn't Add Up Statistics from the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) suggest buy-to-let investing no longer adds up.

Property finance news - House prices 'will not crash' The annual Housing Futures report has announced the UK will avoid a crash in the housing market in the next few years.

BBC NEWS | Business | UK's jobless level falls further Unemployment in the UK fell by 51,000 between June and August to 1.39 million - the lowest since records began 20 years ago.

BBC NEWS | Business | BoE's King warns of bleaker times The era of low and stable inflation and falling unemployment in the British economy may be over, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King has warned.

Sky News - Brrrrrace yourselves! Britain is about to be hit by one of the coldest winters in recent memory, according to the same weather experts who predicted 2004's Summer would be a washout.

Telegraph | Money | Builders add to housing market fears Cautionary comments from housebuilders George Wimpey and MJ Gleeson stoked further fears about a slowdown in the housing market yesterday.

BBC NEWS | Business | UK inflation rate fall continues According to the Office for National Statistics, the consumer price index (CPI) fell by 0.2% in September to 1.1%, the lowest level since March.

Sky News - RATE HIKES HIT BUILDERS Housebuilder George Wimpey has said the higher cost of borrowing is continuing to take its toll on the housing market.

Guardian Unlimited Money: Britain could be heading for a mild dose of stagflation Income Data Services, a thinktank on employment issues, predicted today that rising inflationary pressures would have a knock-on effect on wage bargainers over the coming months, a trend that could prompt the Bank of England to raise rates once more.

Guardian Unlimited Money: House prices may fall 20% over the next three years He predicted prices would fall 20% over the next three years.

The Move Channel: Townies dream of rural bliss 27% of the UK’s metropolitan house-hunters are looking for property away from larger urban areas according to a major survey of the UK’s moving trends by national property website assertahome.com. 10% are greenshifting and want to move to the countryside while a further 17% are looking for a new home in small towns.

Reuters:Factory gate inflation hits eight-year high
Economists said on Monday the figures indicated that inflationary pressures were building in the supply chain and that showed it remained possible that the Bank of England will hike interest rates once more this year.

BBC NEWS | Business | House prices cool off in August Prices rose 1.2% in August compared with 1.8% in the same month last year, taking average prices up to £179,486 from £177,747 in July.

The Move Channel: Official house price growth falls to 13.6% House price growth in the UK slowed in August, falling to a 13.6% annual increase from a rise of 14.3% in July, figures released today by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) showed.

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - Press Notice - HOUSE PRICE INDEX - AUGUST 2004 The mix-adjusted average house price in the UK in August 2004 stood at £179,486, up from £177,474 in July (not seasonally adjusted).

Manchester Online: CONFIDENCE FALLS AS HOUSING MARKET SUFFERS THE JITTERS JITTERS in the housing market have pushed consumer confidence in the north west housing market down to its lowest level for 16 months.

Sky News - NEGATIVE EQUITY PERIL Homeowners are risking the problem of negative equity by continuing to borrow against the value of their properties while the housing market slows down.

This is Money: House buyers control the market
THE prices on the property details in the estate agent’s window haven’t yet been changed. But talk to the people in the office and they all say the same thing: the prices you see are just a starting point for negotiations, nothing more.