House prices may be stabilising, according to figures from the Nationwide building society.

The lender said the cost of the average UK home rose by 0.3% month-on-month to February leaving prices just 0.1% lower than this time last year. The average UK house now costs £161,183.

Prices were broadly flat according to the Nationwide’s quarterly figures, seen as a smoother indicator of market trends, but the building society warned that it saw little room for optimism in the short to medium-term.

It said that a continuing lack of first-time buyers is continuing to hold the market back and that there is little prospect of numbers returning to pre-financial crisis levels any time soon.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “With the supply of housing fixed in the short term, the flow of new buyers into the market has a major impact on prices and activity. The fa

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Michael Bromwich, head of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy, said the permit was approved for U.S. firm Noble Energy after a thorough vetting process and marked “a significant milestone” for Gulf operations. “Noble Energy’s application has met the requirements of our new safety regulations and information requirements,” Bromwich said in a conference call with reporters. Bromwich said there were seven applications pending.

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The US-Mexico Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) expects to submit two sewerage projects to its board of directors for approval in April, a BECC communications official told BNamericas.

The two projects, which are located in Baja California’s Tijuana city, will have a total cost of some US$4.85mn and are currently in the public consultation phase.

The approval process can take 30-60 days, so the initiative should be authorized by June, with financing from the North American Development Bank (NADB), the official said in an email.

The first project involves building a sewerage system in the Colonia Alcatraces district, some 13.5km from the US border. Work includes installing 733 domestic connections, 8.65km of sewerage pipeline and 1.47km of sub-collectors to transfer sewage to the Rosarito Norte wastewater treatment plant.

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In order to achieve a swift property sale in the existing property market environment you must take each advantage that you can. Purchasers are as rare as hen’s teeth and so you must make a big effort when you learn from the estate agent that you have definitely got one of these illusive breeds coming to visit your property.

There are many things you can do to make the most of the experience that the buyer gets in your home and a few of the areas regularly overlooked by the home owner are the general cleanliness of the property and the off-putting effects that can be caused by your much loved pets.

Everyone lives with a varying level of hygiene in our home, some people are fanatical cleaners, others get the vaccum out only when they can’t see the surfaces for dust and bits. So in order to sell house fast you really must make sure that you clean your home to a very high standard. Tha

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Train passengers are missing out on the cheapest tickets and paying more for journeys than is necessary due to poor advice from rail staff.

An undercover investigation by the consumer group Which? found that 59% of station clerks and 43% of operators on the National Rail Enquiries helpline failed to advise passengers of the cheapest options available for their journey.

Which? researchers asked staff a total of 150 questions and got similar results to the last time they carried out the study in October 2007 and September 2009.

In one of the worst examples of overcharging, a researcher was quoted £400 for two round trips between Oxford and Cardiff when the cheapest option was £112 cheaper.

Staff were tested on whether they were giving customers the chance to make savings by travelling on off-peak services, taking a slower route or buying a season pass instead of multiple tickets throughout a week.

Which? a

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