UK long-term borrowing costs are nearing the highest levels in more than a quarter of a century as traders brace for a raft of bond sales this week, Bloomberg News reported. The yield on 30-year gilts rose as much as four basis points to 5.19%, nearing the 5.21% high seen in 2023. US Treasuries are also feeling the heat of impending bond sales, with the equivalent yield earlier rising to a 14-month high as investors prepare for three-, 10- and 30-year securities this week.

U.K. house prices climbed to within touching distance of a record high at the end of last year, according to industry figures from Nationwide Building Society, suggesting the resilient property market gathered more momentum, Bloomberg News reported. The lender said prices rose 0.7% month-on-month to an average of £269,426 ($338,000), a fraction below the record high of £273,751 ($343,000) set in the summer of 2022.

The Bank of England said on Thursday it had allotted 46.180 billion pounds ($57.49 billion) at its first short-term repo of 2025, the second-highest amount on record and up from 38.075 billion pounds at a repo on Dec. 19, Reuters reported. The short-term repo allows banks to borrow money from the BoE - usually for a seven-day period - in exchange for high-quality collateral and is designed by the BoE to keep interbank lending rates close to its policy interest rate. The highest amount allotted in the repo was 46.743 billion pounds on Oct.

The company behind a proposed multi-billion pound theme park dubbed the 'Dartford Disneyland' is being taken to court by Hollywood studio Paramount, Yahoo Finance U.K. reported. London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH) had hoped to build the controversial attraction on the 372-acre Swanscombe Peninsula near Dartford, Kent and close to south Essex. First announced back in 2012, the huge park was envisioned to feature rollercoasters, water parks, hotels and live entertainment venues and would have been at least three times the size of any other theme park in the UK.

Insolvencies and restructuring could rise further over the start of 2025 as firms face more increased cost pressures, industry experts have warned, PAMedia.com reported. Restructuring bosses have cautioned that impending cost rises linked to the autumn Budget could particularly weigh on the retail, hospitality and care sectors. It comes after official figures pointed towards an uptick in insolvencies at the end of this year. Company insolvencies lifted by 13% in November compared with the previous month, although they were lower year-on-year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The number of UK retailers on the brink of collapse surged by a quarter in recent months, a new report has warned, PAMedia.com reported. The strain on the retail sector follows new data showing a drop in the number of people heading to the shops during Boxing Day sales. The latest Red Flag Alert report from insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor found 2,124 UK retailers were in critical financial distress between October and December 16.