On-Money

Millions of households are at least £870 a year worse off, as a result of punishing increases in water, power and council tax.

It has been announced this week that council tax bills  are to rise above the rate of inflation in April, and this with the huge rises in the price of gas and electricity, suggest that the cost of living is rising far ahead of the governments official figures.

Price rises over the last 3 years have included:

Water bills up by 25% including a 7% rise due in April.

Council tax bill rose almost 40%. This year they will go up by 4.2%.

Electricity up by 58%.

Gas bills surged by 91%.

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The Nationwide revealed today that house prices are rising at 10.2% a year, nearly 3 times faster than 12 months ago.

A typical property has gone up about £1,200 a month or £40 a day over the past year.

A home which would have cost less than £160,000 to buy in February last year would now cost £175,000.

The increase is due to the small number of properties coming on to the market, and the lack of supply will mean that house inflation will remain high for a while.

The Land Registry said that there are now 17 counties in England and Wales where the average house price is over £200,000. It also found that 15 homes a day are sold for £1,000,000 or more.

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