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When you invite people into your home – whether that’s someone coming to take marketing photographs, prospective buyers or even a surveyor – all eyes will be on the condition and décor.

Nationwide’s latest House Price Index showed that after three years of rising values, stability has been restored. With a market returning to more ‘normal’ territory, expectations need adjusting, as a new report from Zoopla revealed.

The soaring cost of gas has made us all think twice about how frequently we turn on our central heating but no one wants to live in a cold home. In a bid to keep energy bills affordable, many homeowners have gone in search of alternative ways to keep warm.

Stripes, spots, checks and chinoiserie, there are a myriad of patterns you can decorate your home with. As with paint colours and styles of furniture, patterns fall in and out of fashion, so we’ve narrowed down the field for you. Here are the interior experts’ top three pattern choices for spring/summer 2023.

New year, new-look property market? With January complete, signs are emerging of what the buying, selling and lettings trends will be in 2023. Zoopla is first out the blocks, with news on asking prices versus paid for prices.

Viewing a house or a flat is one of the most exciting – and important – aspects of moving home but how you approach the visit can differ, depending on whether you’re renting or buying. Unlike tenants, buyers will be responsible for every inch of the property, therefore any repairs will be their sole responsibility to fund and fix.

Using a professional estate agent to buy, sell or let a property has many advantages and a lesser publicised but extremely important aspect is preventing property fraud. Before you unduly worry, property fraud is extremely rare but because of this, it tends to make the news when it does happen.

The people at Pantone have recently released their colour of the year for 2023 and they plumped for a red called Viva Magenta. It’s a shade Pantone calls ‘brave, fearless, empowering and joyous’.

We have been holding our breath to see how political and economic changes have affected the property market. Thankfully, whispers of a crash have proven unfounded and we much prefer Zoopla’s take on conditions. The portal says we’re experiencing a property market ‘shake out’.

For 2023, the Dulux Colour of the Year is Wild Wonder – a soft, golden neutral that has both mustard yellow and earthy green undertones. The shade takes its inspiration from nature, reflecting the warm hues of harvested crops, and has the wonderful ability to subtly change colour according to the time of day and source of light.

There are definitely shades of psychology behind buying and selling property, with ‘love at first sight’, ‘gut feelings’ and ‘the heart ruling the head’ coming into play when making decisions. For sellers, how your home makes a potential buyer feel could be the difference between an offer and a ‘thanks, but no thanks’.

It was all change across the UK in October, starting in England. It was only a month ago that we wrote about a new Prime Minister and Chancellor at the helm. Unbelievably, we are reporting the very same news a matter of weeks later, swapping Liz Truss for Rishi Sunak and Kwasi Kwarteng for Jeremy Hunt.