Money, in brief

The UK chancellor, John Healey, is set to raise the National Living Wage, the legal minimum pay for workers aged 21 and over, from 12.71 pounds to about 13.20 pounds an hour. [1][2]

That is a rise of 3.9%, the Times reported. Healey gives his first Budget at about 12:30 UK time on Wednesday, and the new rates will be announced then. [1][4]

The minimum wage for 18 to 20-year-olds is expected to rise by the same 3.9%, from 10.85 pounds to about 11.27 pounds. [1][3]

In the last two Budgets the younger rate rose faster, to close the gap with adults. In April it went up 85p, against 50p for the adult rate. [4][5]

Labour promised in its election manifesto that all adults would one day get the same minimum wage. [1]

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds did not deny the report on BBC radio. He said the promise still stands, but it will be met over time and with an eye on jobs. [1]

The slower rise comes after warnings that young people are being priced out of jobs. [2]

About 981,000 people aged 16 to 24 were not in work, education or training from April to June, official figures cited by the Liberal Democrats show. [1][8]

The Green party said Labour had broken its promise, because a young person's rent and food cost no less than anyone else's. [1]

A restaurant owner in Peckham, London, says he has a thick pile of CVs but cannot afford to hire. He blames a rise in National Insurance, a tax employers pay on wages. [9]

When the rates last rose, in April, about 2.7 million workers got a pay rise. A full-time adult on the minimum now earns 24,784.50 pounds a year. [5][3]

Emily Nelson, 19, from Swindon, has applied for shop and sales jobs since leaving college and mostly hears nothing back. [7]

Why it matters. The rates are confirmed in Healey's Budget speech at about 12:30 UK time on Wednesday. The test is whether the rate for 18 to 20-year-olds rises 3.9%, as reported, or faster. [1][4]

The UK government's Be Ready campaign, launched on 22 October, asks every household to keep three days of water and food at home for an emergency. [11][34] Security minister Dan Jarvis told MPs on Tuesday that only 13% of people in the UK feel prepared for one. [1] Ruth Patrick, a professor at the University of Glasgow, said the advice would seem tone deaf to the 14 million UK households in poverty. [10] The UK government said people did not need to buy everything at once. [10]

Why it matters. Samantha Richards, a single mother on Universal Credit, said buying the supplies would mean spending her son's holiday childcare money. [10] Jarvis said the campaign answers no specific threat. [1]

The UK government opened Warm Home Loans on Tuesday: loans of 7,500 to 35,000 pounds, at low or no interest, for heat pumps, batteries and solar panels. [12] A heat pump heats a home with electricity instead of a gas boiler. British Gas and E.On offer the loans with lenders including Tandem Bank and Homeserve. [12] The UK government says a heat pump, battery and solar panels together could cut a bill by up to 550 pounds a year. [12] The loans are part of the Warm Homes Plan, a 15bn-pound scheme announced earlier this year. [13]

Why it matters. Until now a household had to find the rest of a heat pump's cost itself: about 13,600 pounds, against a grant of up to 7,500 pounds. [12] Sources told the Guardian that hundreds of millions of pounds will be cut from that grant's 2.7bn-pound budget. [12]

Pakistan's power minister, Awais Leghari, told the Senate on Tuesday that the government will scrap its 200-unit rule for home electricity. [14] Homes using up to 200 units a month get a protected, cheaper rate. [14] A senator said one unit more can lift the price from Rs15 to Rs30 a unit, and the home then loses the cheap rate for six months. [14] Pakistan's government will choose within about six weeks between raising the line to 250 units and ending the six-month ban. [14]

Why it matters. Protected users grew from 10 million to 20-25 million in two years, Leghari said. [14] Part of the rise came from homes using 700 to 800 units that fitted solar panels and bought only 200 units from the grid. [14] He wants future help to depend on income instead. [14]

US home values rose 2.1% in the year to August, the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller index, a widely used measure of house prices, showed on Tuesday. [17][18] Prices across the economy rose 3.4% over the same time, so homes lost value in real terms for the 15th month in a row. [17] Chicago led with a 6.7% rise, while Seattle fell 2.0%. [18] The index runs a few months behind newer data, which already shows price growth cooling. [18][21]

Why it matters. For many owners the home is their biggest store of wealth. [33] When it rises more slowly than prices, that wealth buys a little less each month.

Sales of newly built US homes ran at a yearly pace of 676,000 in September, 5.3% below a year earlier, the US Census Bureau said. [19][20] The median price was 400,000 dollars, 3.9% lower than a year before. [19] Builders are paying to lower buyers' loan rates, to about 4.75% to 5.75%, while an ordinary 30-year fixed home loan averaged 7.20% on Tuesday, NerdWallet reported. [20][21][35] Builders' confidence in October fell to its lowest since June 2012. [20]

Why it matters. A buyer of an older home gets no such discount on the loan. [21] Sales of older homes stay as low as during the 2008 financial crisis. [18]

US average hourly pay rose 3% over the last year, while prices rose 3.7%, the BBC reports. [23] A Pew survey found 35% of Republicans now say President Trump's economic policies have made things worse, up from 18% in January. [24] Most of 1,000 registered voters polled by CNBC in mid-October were gloomy about the economy. [25] The US midterm elections, which choose the US Congress, are on 3 November. [25]

Why it matters. A New York Fed study found Trump's tariffs raised the prices of goods by about 2.9%, and the Iran war pushed up fuel. [23] Trump has floated a payment of 5,000 dollars to adults if Republicans keep control of the US Congress. [23]

Pakistan cut the price of petrol by Rs3.19 a litre on Tuesday, to Rs376.06, and raised diesel by Rs2.25, to Rs398.07. [15] Petrol peaked at Rs458.41 on 3 April, after the war with Iran began in February. [15] Pakistan's government still takes Rs114 a litre in taxes and charges on petrol. [15] It agreed with Jamaat-i-Islami, a religious party threatening a march on Islamabad, to study widening a fuel subsidy that 12.7 million people have signed up for. [15][16]

Why it matters. The cheap-fuel scheme covers only motorbikes, rickshaws and cars up to 800cc. [15] Diesel, still far above its pre-war price of Rs281 a litre, is not part of it. [15][16]

The typical asking rent in Manhattan reached 5,375 dollars a month from July to September, 8.3% more than a year before, Realtor.com reported. [22] Under the common rule that rent should take no more than 30% of pay, a tenant would need 215,000 dollars a year. [22] The median Manhattan household earns 106,403 dollars. [22] Across New York City the typical rent hit a record 3,785 dollars, 27.5% above its level before the pandemic. [22]

Why it matters. Renters who cannot save a deposit stay where they are, a broker says, so fewer flats come free for others. [22]

Repeat US home buyers put down a median 23% of the price in 2025, against 10% for first-time buyers, Realtor.com reports. [33] And 30% of repeat buyers paid entirely in cash. [33] A Texas buyer with 30,000 dollars saved told a CNN town hall that, when she went house hunting, a family put down 80,000 dollars more in cash. [33] Just 24% of Americans aged 18 to 29 owned a home in 2025, against 83% of those 60 and over. [33]

Why it matters. Money built up in a first home becomes the deposit for the next one. [33] So families who already own pull further ahead of those trying to start.

China's working-age people now support more elderly people than children for the first time, official figures show. [28] The ratio of people over 65 to working-age people rose to 23% last year, above 22% for children. [28] China has more than 223 million people aged 65 and over, and about 213 million children aged 14 and under. [28] More than 53 million older people got state allowances by the end of 2025. [28]

Why it matters. A researcher in Hong Kong said public money may shift from schools to pensions and health care. [28] A researcher in Singapore said there are fewer young people to support each older relative. [28]

The UK government proposed on Tuesday to let the public see, for free, who owns most land in England and Wales. [26] The Land Registry, the body that records who owns land, now charges for that information. [26] A new free dataset would name the owners of large holdings, but not ordinary homeowners. [26] The UK government says the owners of at least 10% of land are unknown, and the plan is open for comment for eight weeks. [26]

Why it matters. Councils could find sites for homes and schools faster, the UK government says. [26] The Country Land and Business Association, which speaks for landowners, warns that more public data could help fraudsters. [26]

UK phone companies aim to replace the old copper landline network with internet-based lines by the end of January. [27] The old lines keep working in a power cut, but the new ones depend on mains power. [27] MPs for remote areas told security minister Dan Jarvis that people could be left unable to call for help in a storm. [27] Providers give vulnerable customers back-up batteries that keep a phone working for an hour or more. [27]

Why it matters. Telecare users, people with alarms that call for help, must be given a free back-up battery, the UK government's Be Ready advice says. [27] Jarvis said he would take the MPs' concerns to the culture department. [27]

Villa Vie Odyssey, a ship where people buy cabins to live at sea, suspended its round-the-world voyage on Tuesday. [29] About 200 passengers were told to leave the ship in Cambodia, Bloomberg reported. [29] The US-based operator said fuel for each cabin in parts of Asia now costs up to 8,000 dollars a month, up from 1,800 dollars. [29] Cabins sold for 120,000 to 440,000 dollars to live in for good. [29]

Why it matters. The company says it will spend 60 days restructuring and that no outcome is assured. [29] Last year it began selling places for people to spend their retirement at sea. [29]

An RSPCA animal centre in Coventry, England, took in 399 cats and kittens over the summer, 150 more than a year before. [30] It blames rising costs, including the cost of neutering, which leads to more kittens being born. [30] It is full with 80 cats and has a waiting list of 130 owners who want to give up a pet. [30] Across its 14 national centres the RSPCA takes in an average of 624 cats a month. [30]

Why it matters. Vet bills and insurance for older cats are among the costs owners cannot meet, the centre says. [30] The shelter itself costs 40,000 pounds a month to run. [30]

U.S. News & World Report, a US magazine, named Midland, Michigan, the best US place to retire for 2027 on Tuesday, for the second year running. [36] It scored more than 850 cities on living costs, health care, taxes on retirees and other measures. [36] This year it gave affordability more weight. [36] Seven of the top 10 towns have median home prices at least 10% below the US median of 430,000 dollars, HousingWire found. [36]

Why it matters. In Altoona, Pennsylvania, the median listed home costs 169,999 dollars, 60% below the US median. [36] A cheaper home leaves a retiree more of the money built up in the one they sell. [36]

The US farm department's Rural Development agency added six lenders, including PennyMac and Fairway, to a pilot for rural home loans. [31] They join on 1 December. [31] The pilot lets lenders give the final approval before a loan closes, a check the agency used to make itself. [31] The loans carry a 90% government guarantee, a promise to cover most of a lender's loss if a borrower stops paying. [31]

Why it matters. The agency says the aim is to close loans faster with less of its own staff time. [31] Its head of rural housing says lending standards will stay strong. [31]

Bilt, a US company whose credit cards earn points on rent, announced changes on 27 October, most starting in 2027. [32] Its Bilt Cash rewards will now last 12 months instead of expiring at the end of each year. [32] But cardholders will lose the option to earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday spending unless they opt out before their card anniversary. [32]

Why it matters. Cardholders who do nothing move to the new rules. [32] Those who opt out can no longer switch between the two ways of earning. [32]