Making money: what the experts think

Safe as houses?

House prices have suffered their “first quarterly fall for nearly five years”, according to the Halifax, said Lee Boyce in the Daily Mail. But anyone anticipating an imminent rout is likely to be disappointed. Prices fell by just 0.2% between February and April – indicating that values have “stagnated” rather than changing significantly. The average house price is now £219,649, some £2,541 lower than the peak recorded in December last year. Halifax reckons the slowdown is mainly down to “the beginnings of a squeeze on households’ finances”. Could it intensify? Consumer fundamentals are certainly “weakening”, according to Howard Archer of IHS Markit. But a “shortage of supply”, combined with super-low mortgages, is “likely to put a floor under prices”. Ongoing stagnation seems to be the name of the game, he adds. “We expect house price gains over 2017 will be limited to no more than 2% – and could very well be lower than that.”

Rich list

The “Brexit Boom” has proved kind to Britain’s billionaires, said The Guardian. The latest Sunday Times Rich List registers 134 billionaires – “14 more than the previous highest total”, demonstrating that “the super-rich continue to streak away from the rest of us”. In 2002, there were just 21. Topping the list this year were the London-based Hinduja brothers, with a £16.2bn fortune. Although the combined wealth of the richest 1,000 rose from £575bn last year to £658bn, there were notable casualties, said The Times. “Two of Britain’s most berated tycoons” – Topshop’s Sir Philip Green and Sports Direct’s Mike Ashley – “saw their fortunes plummet”.

Gender shy

A Tory flagship policy designed to tackle inequalities in the workforce has got off to “a slow start”, said the FT. Only five UK employers out of a possible 9,000 have complied with a new requirement to publish details of their “gender pay gap”. Employers have until April 2018 to comply with the new rules, which apply to all organisations employing 250 people or more. Even so, the lack of response is disappointing. Chris Charman of consultant Mercer cites technical and “reputational” reasons. The line being taken is “go late, get lost in the noise… and don’t be the first one to poke your head up above the parapet”.