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“The average UK house price fell by 0.3pc in September, following a rise of 0.2pc in August, Halifax has said.

The annual rate of house price growth also eased to 1.3pc, down from 2pc in August and the weakest since April 2024.

The typical property value stands at £298,184.

Rachel Reeves’s expected tax rises in the Budget next month are “weighing on buyer sentiment” in the housing market, economists have said.

Ashley Webb of Capital Economics said confidence had been rocked by “the threat of tax rises in the Budget, combined with the weak labour market and rebounding mortgage rates”. He said: “Tax rises in the Budget would dent real household disposable incomes and weigh on the housing market next year.”

He warned that mortgage rates might not come down as fast as previously forecast amid “lingering fiscal concerns will mean gilt yields don’t fall as far as we previously thought”.

Housebuilders were among the worst performers on Britain’s stock markets after figures showed house prices fell last month.

Developers were down more than 1pc in early trading after Halifax said house prices fell 0.3pc between August and September.

Vistry was the worst hit, declining by 1.6pc, with Bellway and Persimmon down around 1.3pc.

Matt Britzman, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Housebuilder shares have been under pressure all year, and underperformance looks set to continue with no obvious driving force as we move into the final quarter of 2025.”

Undoubtedly will impact Lloyd’s Bank. Labour delivering on more failure.

Nor is he a Brit. Nor does he live in the UK. He has zero skin in the game.

Agreed. These have been a great investment for me as have SMIFs but I don’t see enough in this offer to persuade me to take it up.

Looking at the dates, I think that the new shares will not qualify for the dividend on 31/10. The shares go ex div on 16/10. For that reason, I won’t be taking up the offer.

What a total disaster this government has been for just about everyone. Inflation up, taxes up, unemployment up, growth down and an impending budget where pensioners, the middle classes and businesses will be taxed even more. Am seriously contemplating selling the remainder of my Lloyds holding as Lloyds will not come out of this well.

Britain’s fiscal watchdog is poised to deliver a £20bn blow to Rachel Reeves by downgrading its forecasts ahead of the Budget.

The embattled Chancellor will on Friday receive initial predictions from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) about the state of the economy, which will underpin her autumn tax and spending plan set to be unveiled on Nov 26.

Ms Reeves is set to be plunged even deeper in the red because the OBR is widely expected to admit its assumptions about UK productivity gains have been too optimistic.

Andrew Goodwin, the chief UK economist at Oxford Economics, said: “They’re almost certainly going to downgrade it. [Some] £15bn to £20bn is a reasonable ballpark.

“The motivation for doing so is that they are the most optimistic forecaster in the consensus. If your role is to be the sober judge of economic policy, then you can’t be the most optimistic forecaster.”

The watchdog has for several years faced scrutiny over its upbeat predictions for productivity gains, which have proved elusive since the financial crisis.

This measure of how fast the economy can produce more with less is the most important driver of economic growth and real wages.

Even a downgrade of only 0.1 percentage points would cost Ms Reeves £9bn in her fiscal arithmetic, money that then has to be offset with higher borrowing, spending cuts or tax rises.

Wonder what impact Labour’s disastrous economic policies are going to have on Lloyds share price going forward 🙄

The 🤡 is just wasting bandwidth again.

I can argue Bloomers that the prizes get credited to my Lloyds bank account thus increasing their profits 😉

😂 It equates to 3% if I won that every month. Previous 3 months have been £25, £25 and zero. Been very poor this year.

2 x £50

1 x £25

= £125

Cheers TFE 👍

I was lucky that I hadn’t received the money otherwise I would have got caught up in this dragnet. To me it indicates that they are going to either abolish the 25% tax free amount or drastically reduce it. Glad you got out unscathed fella.

“BUSINESS confidence has plunged to a record low ahead of the Budget as Rachel Reeves prepares a fresh wave of tax rises.

The Institute of Directors (IoD) said its closely watched survey of business leaders’ optimism in the economy fell to minus 74 in September from minus 61 the previous month.

The reading, which is the lowest in its nine-year history, comes after the Chancellor backed away from previous pledges not to raise taxes further earlier this week.

Ms Reeves hit employers with a £26bn tax raid introduced at her maiden Budget last October.

Anna Leach, the chief economist at the IoD, said increased costs on employers were to blame for undermining confidence.

She said: “Business confidence has plumbed new depths in September, ­following a fleeting improvement at the tag-end of summer.

“Conditions worsened across the board, with cost expectations hitting a record high, driven notably by employment costs.

“Persistent fears that taxes on ­business and assets will rise are stifling confidence, holding back investment and threatening growth and living standards.”

Mel Stride, the Tory shadow chancellor, said the data proved Labour doesn’t “understand business”.

He added: “Business confidence has been shattered – not by global uncertainty, but by deliberate choices made by the Labour Government.

It’s now clear that yet more tax rises are on the way to plug the multibillion- pound hole the Chancellor has blown in the finances. Ongoing uncertainty and speculation have led many firms to pause hiring and ­investment.”

The Chancellor pledged last year that her record £40bn tax-rising Budget would be a one-off, after facing accusations of “milking” corporate Britain.”

Who voted for these idiots ? Not me……

Agreed ATISHA,

If Farage didn’t like Britain, he wouldn’t have spent his time taking us out of the EU putting himself out of a job in the process. Never heard so such cr*p from Starmer.

It’s happened on Labour’s watch. Labour putting more money in your pocket ? 😂😂😂

Who voted for these morons ? Not me…….

“Ed Miliband’s net zero targets are facing fresh scrutiny after Britain was found to be paying the highest electricity prices in the developed world.

New data published on Tuesday showed the price paid by UK industry for power was 63pc higher than in France and 27pc higher than in Germany.

Britain is also the second-most expensive country in the world for household electricity, with billpayers paying twice as much as those in the US.

The figures will increase pressure on the Energy Secretary, who has been accused of driving up electricity costs by adding green levies on to bills to fund renewables.

This includes billions of pounds in subsidies for carbon capture and wind farms, which have contributed to the UK paying the highest power prices in the world for the second year running.

On Tuesday, Steve Elliott, chief executive of the Chemical Industries Association lobby group, warned: “We are competing for investment with these countries and we won’t get it if the Government continues to load policy costs on bills.”

“Mr Miliband, the Energy Secretary, is under increasing pressure to water down his ban on North Sea oil and gas licences amid Britain’s increasing dependency on costly imports from abroad.

Last week it emerged that Mr Miliband was considering weakening his proposed ban by allowing energy companies to drill new oil and gas fields adjacent to existing ones.

In a speech to businesses on Monday night, Ms Reeves said: “I talked about homegrown energy, and that is renewables but it is also in the North Sea as well.

“Ahead of the Budget, we should be publishing our North Sea strategy, which I hope will give some certainty to [the sector] to be able to invest in the UK.

“We are going to be reliant on oil and gas for many years to come, and I would prefer us to be using oil and gas from the UK than importing in from overseas.”

Ms Reeves’s intervention is the latest sign of the pressure mounting on the Energy Secretary to change course after Donald Trump also lobbied Sir Keir Starmer during his state visit this month.

The US president repeatedly urged Sir Keir to “drill, baby, drill”, echoing his own policies at home, and told the Prime Minister, “You have a great asset here. North Sea oil is phenomenal.”

Mr Trump’s comments partly reflected the concerns of American companies including Apache and ExxonMobil that are pulling out of the North Sea owing to Labour’s policies, one industry insider said.“

The latest Labour U turn. What a farce this government has become.

Another senseless thread. Shares move up and down 🤡 Maybe as you don’t invest in them, you weren’t aware.

More bad news for this despicable government.

“Our Priority is Growth” 🤣🤣🤣

What an absolute joke Labour are.

“That manifesto commitment stands” 🤣

That same phraseology came out of Starmer’s mouth yesterday when interviewed by Kuenssberg. At least they’re singing from the same hymn sheet of deception and play on words. They’re coming back for more.

“Our main priority is growth” That’ll be why companies have stopped recruiting, the wealthy are taking their assets out of the country and the housing market is paralysed. One word…..TAX. Labour never learn

Inflation up from 2% to 3.8% under these muppets. Let’s see what tomorrow’s GDP figures show. I wonder if the word “disappointing” will be rolled out yet again 🙄

Ollerdeekhead desperately trying to defend the red flag whilst Rome is burning around him. Carry on comrade 🇷🇺