The average cost of a property has jumped almost £30,000 since the start of the pandemic.

New data from Nationwide has found property prices to hit record highs and the cost of an average home now costs over £250,000 for the first time.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, commented: “Combined with a lack of homes on the market, this helps to explain why price growth has remained robust.”

“Even if wider economic conditions continue to improve, rising interest rates may exert a cooling influence on the market, though the impact on existing borrowers is likely to be modest.”

“For example, on the average mortgage, an interest rate increase of 0.4 per cent would raise monthly payments by £28 to £625 (or around £335 extra per year), though a rise of bank rate to 1 per cent would see typical payments go up by a more substantial £64 to £660 (more than £760 per year approximately).”

“It’s important to note that a small proportion of households already have a relatively high debt service burden,” he added.

Morgan Sindall has said that it expects a strong full-year performance thanks to the full lineup of work it has scheduled for the rest of the year.

“Trading remains strong across the Group and our high-quality and growing workload leaves us well set for the future,” commented the chief executive, John Morgan.

“Inflation in the supply chain remains manageable and based upon our current performance and the visibility we have for the rest of the year, we expect to deliver a full year performance which is slightly above our previous expectations.”

The group expects a full-year operating margin of approximately 3% and the average daily net cash is expected to be around £290m for the full year.

Trainline has reported a 151% increase in revenues for the first six months of FY22.

Net ticket sales jumped 79% to £1bn whilst revenues reached £78m. This is the strongest results since the pandemic, suggesting a good recovery for the group.

Last year, the group had a loss of £16m compared to this year’s profits of £15m.

Trainline’s chief executive Jody Ford said: “Our consumer business returned to growth in August versus pre-Covid levels, with train travellers increasingly opting for digital tickets.”

“Encouragingly our customers are now using Trainline even more frequently, drawn to new features such as our new 2-click commuter experience and digital railcards. Beyond the UK, we see significant growth opportunity in Europe. With new entrant train companies driving more journey options and lower prices in our key markets, customers are increasingly turning to Trainline to help them easily find the best fares and support them as they travel.”

The Web Summit is back for the first in-person event in two years, welcoming attendees from 128 countries.

It is the biggest event in tech since the pandemic, with 42,751 attendees. Whilst it’s lower than 2019’s event with 70,469 people in attendance, the event has been scaled down in regulation with Covid restrictions.

Over just four days, 748 speakers will deliver 1,333 talks, with some of the biggest names in tech including Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

This year, the Web Summit is making history by hosting more women attendees than men for the first-ever time. Representation of women has steadily grown from 46.3% in 2019 to 50.5% this year.

This year, there will be 1,519 startups participating in the event and 70 Unicorns.

UK Investor Magazine is present at the Web Summit – keep an eye out for editorial coverage and interviews with speakers, startups and more.