Two building societies to merge

It has recently been revealed that two building societies, the Yorkshire and the Barnsley Building Societies, are to merge, with the larger Yorkshire building Society agreeing to the merger with its smaller rival in a form of rescue bid. This is one of a number of recent mergers and takeovers in the world of banking in the UK. The smaller building society, Barnsley, approached its rival with a view to a merger after losing a possible £10 million in the Icelandic bank collapse. Read more

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Londoners spend the most on loved ones

London males spend an estimated £2,458 on their loved ones per year, double the national average, according to the latest figures.

Findings from moneysupermarket.com show that women spend £659 on their partner each year while men fork out £1,326 on items such as anniversary gifts, dining out, flowers and special holidays.

According to the figures, female and male Londoners spend an average of £1,776 on each other compared with those in the north where £873 is spent.

Richard Mason, director at price comparison site moneysupermarket.com, said: “People might laugh at the north where the starry-eyed spend is less than half of that in London, but £873 a year is still a pretty respectable figure.”

“And it’s the Midlands that has the dubious honour of having three per cent of people spending nothing on their partner,” he added.

The research also found that British males spend seven times more on gifts for their partners than on extras for their cars, which came in at £191.

Further findings from the firm show many Brits miss out on the significant tax-free savings available in Individual savings accounts.

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The Cost of Travel Insurance

The big decision concerning travel insurance is the question of what happens if the traveller only goes away for a few days at a time for business or pleasure, but has to pay for the policy for an entire year. Since the price per day ends up being more expensive, the yearly option is usually more affordable. Most policies require a certain amount of days, like a one day plan or a fourteen day plan, nothing in between. If a traveller is away for four days, they have to buy the nine day plan and the extra money spent is a waste for days they weren’t travelling. Read more

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Idle homes making rich richer

A new breed of home-buyers is sweeping the nation, and particularly London, with the sole intention of making as much money as possible.

Super-rich investors are increasingly snapping up properties even though they have absolutely no intention of living in them. The idea is that they leave the house empty and wait for it to increase in value, before selling it on at a profit.

They have been labelled as buy-to-sitters and they tend to purchase homes at the high end of the market in order to see the biggest profits.

Lulu Egerton, from estate agents Lane Fox, says that many wealthy people see investing in property as something of a hobby.

“The super-rich acquire property in the same way as they buy fine art or fine wine – it almost turns into a kind of international collection,” Ms Egerton told the Evening Standard.

“It can happen over several years. Sometimes it’s no more than a whim, in other cases as families grow they move to a bigger property but the previous homes are neither sold nor let but held as assets.”

Becoming a buy-to-sitter is certainly a hobby which can only be indulged in by the very rich and is hardly helpful to first-time-buyers who are struggling to get a mortgage and buy a house.

“They have the right to hang on to what is undoubtedly a good investment but it does contribute to a real shortage of big houses at the very top of the market and does nothing to help London’s housing crisis,” said Richard Cotton from Cluttons estate agent.

For many Londoners the prospect of owning two homes is a distant dream, however a growing number of people find that they may be able to afford two properties if they leave the capital.

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