House prices

First-time buyers will be able to save into one of the Government's Help to Buy ISAs from today as competition to offer attractive rates heats up.

People buying additional property, including buy-to-let or second homes, will face a 3 percentage point surcharge on stamp duty rates from April 2016.

Savers hoping to be able to put more cash in an ISA from next April have had their hopes dashed as today's Autumn Statement reveals the annual threshold will remain the same.

House prices rose to a record high of £205,000 on average in October, Halifax has reported today.

Parents and grandparents will be able to leave homes worth up to £850,000 to their children without them paying inheritance tax from 2017, rising to £1 million by 2020.

About 167,000 homeowners, including 71,000 pensioners, who are struggling to pay their mortgage will see their mortgage benefit payments fall by a typical £756 a year from next month.

Update: 1 June 2015: The Government has today announced that the 30 hours of free childcare for three- and four-year-olds will actually roll out in September 2016 in some pilot areas, ahead of the full expansion in September 2017.

MoneySavingExpert.com has teamed up with the Electoral Commission to encourage as many people as possible to register to vote, particularly as new research shows that only 40% of those who have moved house in the last year may have done so.