5FF Short Cut: Stig Live in the House for 5 Fact Friday Special

Mortgage approvals crashed 19% month on month (Bank of England, non-seasonally adjusted), while HMRC completed transactions fell 11% July to August. Your First Home offers 2.5% deposits and taxpayer equity loans on new builds — housebuilder shares jumped about 15% before falling back, and buyers risk negative equity from day one. Average fixes hit about 5.93% (two-year) and 5.94% (five-year), the five-year highest since October 2023. Zoopla finds a quarter of homes listed in the past month we...