A ONE-bedroom flat in a Scottish town is set to go up for auction at a bargain price – but there’s a catch.

The home, located on Lawn Street in Paisley, has been dubbed the cheapest property in Scotland.

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The flat is being sold by Prime Property Auctions, who have offered a guide price of just £5,000.

The firm explained that it has recently been reduced and is a bargain for anyone looking to snap up a home in the area.

Especially since one-bedroom properties in the surrounding location have recently sold for over £50,000.

But there’s a catch – the home needs a complete renovation.

The flat needs a revamp as it’s more of a fixer-upper and not in a complete state.

The property currently has no windows and the walls are fully exposed with the brickwork visible.

The ceilings are also caved in, with wires and electrical outlets hanging from the sides.

The door frames have been removed and the flooring has been ripped up, with a huge mess left on the ground.

There is also no fitted kitchen and no useable bathroom.

However, someone with the ability to fix the problems and do the place up could turn it into a wonderful home.

If they did, then they could make around £550-625 a month in rent for the property, which has been valued at around £50,000 once refurbished.

Experts at Prime Property Auctions have said that the property is also located in a prime spot in the town.

It sits near a whole host of local amenities including many popular restaurants, bars and supermarkets, with local schools also nearby.

A spokesperson from Prime Property Auctions said: “This property is ready for builder, investor or developer to bring to life and is a potentially high-yielding investment property.

“Sure to appeal to investors looking for an easy lettable flat in a sought-after location with great potential for Capital Growth.

“The local areas have seen some great sales recently showing that there is strong demand.”

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In today’s newsletter:

• South America’s ‘made in China’ megaport

• Trump’s controversial cabinet picks

• Xi faces heat over attacks on Chinese workers overseas

Good morning. Our top story comes from Peru, where Xi Jinping will today inaugurate a Chinese-built megaport that is set to transform transpacific trade.

The Port of Chancay will upend maritime trade along the continent’s Pacific coast as it can accommodate larger vessels in its deep waters. It will also significantly reduce the transit time for vessels voyaging to Asia from Peru.

But it has not been without controversy. Analysts and officials raised concerns that the $3.6bn port in effect represents a ceding of Peruvian sovereignty over the port.

China’s Cosco Shipping, which built the port with a local junior partner, will be the sole operator when it opens after Peru dropped a lawsuit challenging its exclusive status.

Meanwhile the US, which views Beijing’s growing influence in Latin America as a strategic challenge, has warned that the port could be used by Chinese warships. The development may present an area of contention with president-elect Donald Trump as he takes a tougher line against China.

Andean correspondent Joe Daniels has the full story on the Chancay port, where “everything is made in China”.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: Australia publishes labour force data for October.

• Sri Lanka parliamentary election: Left-wing President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, elected in September, hopes to consolidate his party’s power in today’s vote to help him implement his campaign promises.

• Results: Foxconn and Japan’s three largest banks report their latest results.

Five more top stories

1. Donald Trump has nominated Matt Gaetz, the incendiary Republican congressman from Florida, to be US attorney-general in his second administration. The controversial pick comes as the president-elect vows retaliation for the criminal investigations and indictments launched against him by federal prosecutors in recent years.

• More cabinet selections: Trump has chosen Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman known for her pro-Russian views, to be the director of national intelligence.

• Trump’s nominee for defence secretary: Pete Hegseth, a rightwing television personality and US army veteran, is set to be in charge of the world’s largest, most powerful and probably most bureaucratic military.

• More US news: South Dakota senator John Thune has been elected the next Republican leader in the Senate during Trump’s second term, in a rebuke to Trump allies who had pushed for another candidate to get the job.

2. Seven & i Holdings has ended months of stonewalling and begun negotiations with Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard over a $47bn takeover bid for the 7-Eleven store owner. The long-awaited talks started just as a potential “white knight” bidder emerged, adding to the frenzy around a deal that if successful would transform Japan’s market for corporate mergers and acquisitions.

3. US inflation rose to 2.6 per cent in October, as the Federal Reserve debates whether to cut interest rates at its last meeting before Trump takes office. Sarah House, senior economist at Wells Fargo, said the figures showed that “it’s difficult to wring out this last bit of inflation”.

4. The detention in Mali of an international mining boss and two colleagues has raised alarm across the industry about growing personal risks for executives in the gold-rich west African nation. The three executives of Resolute Mining, an Australian gold producer, are among seven western mining executives to have been held in the past two months as tensions rise between the industry and the military junta.

5. Elon Musk’s support for Trump is set to boost X’s flagging business, with some marketers poised for a return to the social media platform in order to seek favour with the incoming administration. Media executives told the FT that some brands were preparing to advertise on X once again and would seek to get in the “good graces of Elon”.

News in-depth

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is under pressure to better secure his country’s interests in volatile regions around the world after a bomb attack by Pakistan separatists last month claimed the lives of two Chinese engineers. A spike of violence by the Balochistan Liberation Army poses a risk to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, the largest cluster of projects under Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative with total Chinese investments estimated at $62bn.

We’re also reading . . . 

• US-China ties under Trump: The range of possible outcomes for the relationship is wider than ever before, writes Evan Medeiros, a professor at Georgetown University.

• Sentient AI: As companies race to build machines that are more like us, Anjana Ahuja asks: should we be fretting over artificial intelligence’s feelings?

• ‘The planet’s most badass airline’: Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines is the only carrier serving the country in the midst of conflict.

Chart of the day

Investors have poured record sums into exchange traded funds this year, even before a buying spree that was ignited by the election of Trump. As of October 31, global net flows into the ETF industry had hit $1.4tn, according to data from BlackRock.

Take a break from the news

Samantha Harvey has won the 2024 Booker Prize for fiction for her novel Orbital, a sharp, lyrical meditation on the state of the Earth and humanity as viewed from space. Edmund de Waal, the chair of the judges, said “Harvey makes our world strange and new for us”.

SPORTS Direct has unveiled its star-studded Christmas advert for 2024 which is set to appeal to football, rugby and wider fitness fans.

The action-packed film features sporting legend Frank Lampard and a plethora of other high-profile sporting legends.

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The clip, named “New Traditions Start Here’”, also sees England and Chelsea footballer Lucy Bronze make an appearance, as well as endurance athlete Russ ‘Hardest Geezer’ Cook.

They are joined by boxing industry entrepreneur Eddie Hearn, and England Rugby player Maro Itoje.

The professionals are shown encouraging the take up of new sporting traditions that can be enjoyed throughout the festive season.

The film follows a sporty family and begins outside a snowy UK home, where a spirited nan shadowboxes with a snowman in the front garden.

With a kick, she sends the snowman’s head flying into the sky.

This is followed by fitness coach Faisal Abdalla enjoying a makeshift HYROX session in the garage alongside the son.

Frank Lampard appears on an opposing football team, while Lucy Bronze steps in to assist the daughter to score a winning goal.

Irish sprinter athlete Rhasidat Adeleke joins the mum on her run club, before sprinting off.

Boxing industry stars and Everlast ambassadors Eddie Hearn, Conor Benn and Johnny Fisher enjoy a trim in a barber shop and Skye Nicolson also makes an appearance.

Ultra-runner and endurance athlete Russ “Hardest Geezer” Cook appears as a giant while England Rugby star Maro Itoje takes part in some pad work with the nan before being tackled.

The ad aims to show that from family runs to football and rugby matches or exercise sessions in the garage, there’s something sporty for all families to embrace over the festive period.

Almost two thirds of Britons will engage in sporting traditions this year, according to Sports Direct.

One in five will go on a run, while a further one in ten will play football with family and friends.

More than half the nation will engage in a hike or walk and a third will do some form of functional fitness. 

The campaign showcases a selection of key Sports Direct products, ideal for those embarking on new sporting traditions. Featured items include the PUMA Deviate Nitro 3, adidas Predator Elite, Under Armour Infinite and Nike Pegasus 41 Gore-Tex trainers.

David Clark, chief customer officer at Frasers Group, which owns Sports Direct, said: “At Sports Direct, sport is at the centre of everything we do, and we believe in its unique power to inspire.

“This winter season, we’re challenging sports enthusiasts to level up their usual festivities, embrace new traditions, and elevate their holidays with sport – whether it’s a Boxing Day football match or a winter walk.”

Sports Direct Christmas adverts through the years

It’s not the first time Sports Direct’s Christmas ad has featured a cast of stars.

In 2021  Sports Direct splurged £6million on the the most expensive Christmas advert at the time with tennis champ Emma Raducanu and football ace Jack Grealish leading a line-up of 16 sports stars.

The following year in 2022 Mason Mount channelled his inner Greek God in the festive ad alongside legends Eric Cantona and Thierry Henry.

And last year’s ad again featured Mason Mount alongside lionesses Alessia Russo and Lauren Hemp.

Clare Smyrell

‘How much did that just cost me?’

Natash Kurzeja

Getty Images

‘Verging on discrimination’

James Gilmartin

The confidence in UK adults’ ability to have enough capital during retirement has dropped since last year.

This is according to Nucleus UK Retirement Confidence Index which found that overall confidence is 4.6 in 2024 down from 6.9 in 2023.

Nucleus technical services director Andrew Tully said last year the figure was higher than the company expected it to be.

The research from last year has been expanded to include UK adults from the age 18+ whereas last year it was based on adults over 50.

Out of the different age groups, it was the 35-44 and 45-54-year-olds with lowest retirement confidence, 3.7 and 3.8 respectively.

The retirement confidence is split between genders but both have witnessed a drop from last year. Men’s retirement confidence has dropped from 7.2 to 5.1 and women 6.5 to 4.1.

Furthermore, 44% of people do not believe the State Pension will exist in the future. Additionally, 36% of men and 46% of women have no income being contributed to pensions.

The amount of being contributed to defined benefit (DB) pension schemes also declined and was 6.5 down from 7.5 in 2023.

Last year, the report said that the long tail of DB pensions coming to maturity was creating a false confidence among people in or approaching retirement.

The 2023 report rightly predicted that: “This is clearly not sustainable, and we predict the UK Retirement Confidence Index will fall over the next few years as a consequence.”

As well as confidence dropping, peoples targets also seem to fall short. The majority of respondents believe they will need between £20,000 and £30,000 a year for a comfortable retirement.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), however, have said £43,100 is needed a year for a comfortable retirement.

Another factor that has weighed on pension confidence was chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first Budget on 30 October.

Only 2% said they were more positive after the budget with 26% said they were either slightly or much less confident about their financial planning retirement prospects.

This figure increased to 36% for those aged 65+.

This drop in confidence coincides with the amount of seeking financial advice being down 2% points from last year.

The lang cat’s 2024 advice gap research found that only 11% of UK adults have paid for advice.

Tully did call on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to do more to promote advice.

“We need to shout louder about the importance of what advisers and planners do and the value they add.”

Tully did add that another point that came through clearly in the report was the need for financial education.

“Clearly people do not feel that they know enough.”

He added that Martin Lewis did come up a lot as the best person to get help in finance.

Lewis set up MoneySavingExpert.com, a consumer finance website. He is an English financial journalist and host of the Martin Lewis Money Show. He often stresses the information he provides is not regulated financial advice.

In October 2023, LV=’s wealth and wellbeing research programme found 43% of adults turned to websites such as MoneySavingExpert.com for what they considered to be financial advice.

This compared with 38% seeking advice from a qualified adviser.

To obtain these results, Nucleus commissioned YouGov to carry out an online survey of 4,318 UK adults aged 18 and over.