Signs of life in the property market?

Tim Bennett rounds up the week’s personal finance news, including house sellers chancing their luck, why next month is a good time to make a will, and why it's time to kick the kids out.

Asking prices for British houses have jumped by 3.5% on average in the past month, according to Rightmove. They say the move shows "evidence of some life in the market". We say, sellers beware.

Asking prices rarely reflect final completion prices, which are usually lower, even at the best of times. The most likely explanation for this month's rise in an otherwise lacklustre market, as Rightmove concedes, is sellers chancing their luck after the usual summer lull.

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Tim graduated with a history degree from Cambridge University in 1989 and, after a year of travelling, joined the financial services firm Ernst and Young in 1990, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

He then moved into financial markets training, designing and running a variety of courses at graduate level and beyond for a range of organisations including the Securities and Investment Institute and UBS. He joined MoneyWeek in 2007.