Money

A post-lockdown boom in Britain's housing market pushed a gauge of house prices to an 18-year high last month but the outlook is darkening fast ahead of an expected jump in unemployment, a survey showed on Thursday.

Britain's labour market perked up in September after a torrid few months but the outlook is worrying as the COVID-19 pandemic intensifies again and the government prepares to close its job subsidy scheme, a survey showed on Thursday.

British house prices rose last month at the fastest annual pace since June 2016 in the latest sign of a post-coronavirus lockdown surge in the housing market, data from mortgage lender Halifax showed on Wednesday.

Britain will prioritise trying to save jobs over tax rises while the COVID-19 pandemic batters the economy, though record borrowing and a $2.6 trillion debt pile cannot be sustained for ever, finance minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday.

The British government launched a new employment programme on Monday aimed at helping those left jobless due to the COVID-19 pandemic to get back into work.

The Bank of England (BoE) set out proposals on Wednesday to end unfair advantages some banks have in calculating how much capital to hold for mortgages in a bid to increase competition.

Claire Tomlinson dreams of buying a three-bedroom house in the leafy northern English town of Sandbach but now finds herself priced out of the market, a story that is becoming all too familiar in Britain in the pandemic era.

British house prices rose by the most in four years in September when they jumped by an annual 5.0%, mortgage lender Nationwide said on Wednesday as a sharp rebound in the country's housing market accelerated.

British mortgage approvals hit their highest in almost 13 years in August, underscoring the scale of the post-lockdown bounce-back in the housing market, but consumers turned more cautious about day-to-day borrowing, Bank of England data showed.