The era of super-cheap money is over, according to leading economists who argue interest rates will not fall back to the low levels enjoyed prior to 2022. This week, the cost of Government borrowing soared to its highest level for more than a quarter of a century, partly triggered by a global bond sell off and Labour's Budget plan to borrow and spend more. The yield on 30-year gilts reached the highest it has been since 1998, while, the yield on 10-year gilts hit the highest level since the financial crisis.

The pigeons continue to come, no matter how much we scare them. What is the best way to deal with this problem? A friend suggested we put netting up as it is an enclosed balcony. Do you have any advice on how we should sort it? What will the likely cost be? And should it actually even be our responsibility to sort? Should it not be the freeholder and the management company?

Fixed rate mortgages look set to rise again after the cost of Government borrowing soared to its highest level for more than a quarter of a century. Rates had been expected to fall this year due to expectations that the Bank of England will cut the base rate three or four times. But now, rising gilt yields have thrown mortgage rate reductions into question.

House prices fell slightly in December, according to the latest figures from Halifax. The 0.2% fall last month marks the first dip since June, with Halifax having registered five months of consecutive increases since then. It means house prices finished 2024 3.3% up over the year, with the typical home worth £297,166.

What can we do to ensure our house sells quickly next year? We want to ideally be in a new home by August and were thinking of putting our home on the market at the beginning of March. We were wondering what tips you would give that will put our house ahead of the competition in our local area. We'll have two months to spruce it up.

Two mortgage lenders have announced they will be cutting rates on some of their fixed home loans. Most households with a good credit record can secure a mortgage rate of between 4% and 5% at the moment. There is expected to be more appetite for new mortgages in 2025, with UK Finance forecasting a 10% rise in lending for house purchases and a 30% increase in remortgage lending.

This time last year, we asked six property experts what they thought would happen to house prices in 2024. Some predicted that prices would fall by 5% while others expected house prices would rise by as much as 2%. We revisit them and ask for their house price predictions for 2025, as well as where the housing market hot and cold spots will be.

The Bank of England has opted to hold the base rate at its current level, meaning interest rates will finish the year at 4.75%. The decision will come as little surprise given that yesterday, the Office for National Statistics reported that inflation rose to 2.6% - above the Bank of England target of 2%. We explain what the decision means for your money - and whether rates will be cut again soon.

The house price prophet who predicted the last two downturns says that prices remain on course to peak in 2026, before they crash once again. Fred Harrison, an author and economic commentator, is expecting house prices to continue rising until late 2026 before the next big property crash occurs.

I have asked my nextdoor neighbour to split the repair job fifty-fifty, but he has flat out refused saying it isn't their responsibility to sort it out or pay for. First, he tried to claim that because it's on the left hand side of my garden (and the right side of his), it's my responsibility. I put them back in their place, saying that's an old myth. And then, he had the cheek to say that it wasn't his problem because I fixed the fence last time it blew down several years ago and therefore the new fence is my fence, not his.

The Government has 'turned its back' on first-time buyers according to property experts, with stamp duty costs set to skyrocket from 1 April next year. In a few months' time, a first-time buyer could go from paying no stamp duty on a £425,000 home to £6,205. Can they still get in under the wire?

The governor of the Bank of England has said there are likely to be four interest rate cuts next year as inflation falls away. The ONS revealed that inflation rose to 2.3% in the 12 months to September, above what markets were forecasting. Speaking to the Global Boardroom conference with the Financial Times, Andrew Bailey said that despite the recent rise, he is confident inflation will soon return to its 2 per cent target.

A Berkshire town has been ranked as the most miserable place to live in Great Britain, according to a yearly happiness study by Rightmove. More than 35,000 people were asked what they thought of their town or city - and this one received the lowest score.

My husband and I are desperate to move home as we have outgrown our two-bedroom house. This has been made more urgent by the fact that our second child is due in April. But we heard that the run-up to Christmas is a bad time to try and sell a property. Is this true? Should we put our house on the market now, or wait until the new year?

Halifax is launching an 18-month fixed rate mortgage deal in response to growing demand among borrowers for shorter term deals. The fix product is aimed at homeowners looking to remortgage and will no doubt appeal to those expecting interest rates to fall next year and beyond. Most mortgage products offer households the option of fixing for two, three, five or even 10 years.

The bank says it is reducing rates on a number of products by as much as 0.20 percentage points from tomorrow. It comes against the backdrop of a spate of mortgage rate hikes in recent weeks by major lenders.Since the start of October, the lowest five-year fixed rate has gone from 3.68% to 4.14% while the lowest two-year fix has risen from 4.84% to 4.22%.

Interest rate cut hopes were crushed yesterday after a bigger-than-expected rise in inflation to a six-month high. Higher inflation will add to the Bank of England's reluctance to cut its benchmark interest rate, currently at 4.75 per cent. Mortgage rates have risen over recent weeks, as rate cut expectations have been trimmed.

My wife and I are remortgaging at the end of the year and trying to weigh up our options between a two-year and a five-year fixed rate mortgage. What's your view? There isn't a huge difference in monthly repayments between the two, but trying to get a sense of what will happen to interest rates in the future is a challenge.

So far this week, seven high street lenders have increased their mortgage rates. This may have come as a surprise to households with a mortgage - particularly given that the Bank of England voted to cut the base rate from 5 per cent to 4.75% last Thursday.

NatWest has become the latest bank to hike mortgage rates, the sixth major lender this week to announce fixed home loan prices are going up.  NatWest is pushing its fixed rates up by up to 0.35 percentage points from tomorrow. The move could see some of the lowest fixed rate deals disappear from the market with almost all sub 4 per cent deals now gone.

The property market continues to heat up, according to the latest survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). The closely-watched monthly survey takes the temperature of Rics members and gives a snapshot of what is happening on the ground in the property market across the country. It revealed more of its members, comprising estate agents and surveyors, saw house house prices rise over the last three months than those that reported falls.

The Bank of England cut interest rates at its November meeting but expectations of future falls have been reined back. The base rate was cut to 4.75 per cent from 5 per cent by a vote of 8 to 1 at the Monetary Policy Committee. The Bank expects base rate to end next year at about 3.7 per cent.

We have our eye on a home listed for £650,000. the estate agent said we could secure a 10 per cent discount if we are cash buyers. My parents would be able to stump £600,000 for us to buy the home at discount and quickly. Our idea is then to give them the £300,000 or so proceeds from our former home when sold and then pay them back the remaining £300,000 in the form of a sort of Bank of Mum and Dad interest-free mortgage.