Yesterday the Chancellor, John Healey, announced his Autumn Budget. Here we look at what it means for the housing market in Wales and across the UK.
John Healey’s first Budget was largely focused on helping households who are facing a rising cost of living. For the property market, it should hopefully bring some extra stability, enabling buyers and sellers to plan their moves with confidence.
Some of the key announcements are outlined below, where we’ve highlighted specific initiatives that impact the housing market as well as some of the main announcements designed to tackle the cost of living and give people more money in their pockets. Please note that these are planned for England and it will be interesting to see what the Welsh Government adopts from this Budget.
Autumn Budget announcements include –
- A First Time Buyer ISA is set to replace the Lifetime ISA in 2029, offering a 25% government bonus on savings used to buy a qualifying first home worth up to £450,000.
- The Your First Home Scheme for first-time buyers. From next Spring it will provide an equity loan scheme with government-backed lending. It is expected to be for first-time buyers who have a 2.5% deposit, and will provide buyers with an equity loan of 20% of the value of the new build property. Zoopla estimates that up to 30,000 buyers a year could benefit if local price caps are set at the right levels.
- Landlords will face a further increase in property income tax – rates will rise by another two percentage points from April 2027. This is in addition to the increase announced in the 2025 Budget.
- All land sold to social housing providers will now be free of VAT, with an additional £1.5bn for social and affordable housing and an exemption from Biodiversity Net Gain requirements for qualifying small brownfield developments.
- The VAT cut on electricity will be extended through the winter and spring to July.
- 20 million households in council tax bands A-D will receive a £100 ‘household energy payment’ this winter. It will be paid directly into bank accounts.
- The 5p fuel duty cut will be extended until next July.
- Standing charges are set to be removed from the gas bills of millions of people. This will come into effect from next year and will be followed by similar reforms for electricity.
- The national minimum wage and national living wage are being increased by 3.9% – this will affect 2.3 million workers.
- The planned cut to the tax-free cash ISA limit is no longer going ahead – it will remain at £20,000 annually.
Commenting on the Budget, Helen Worrall, co-founder and director of Cardigan Bay Properties says: “In terms of the housing market we know that there has been some caution from both buyers and sellers about what will be announced in this Budget, particularly in light of cost of living concerns and rising fuel prices.
“Here in West Wales we have seen a very slight slow down in property sales over the last month, but on a positive note the number of viewings we’ve seen continues to rise. The demand is still there – buyers are just taking their time and monitoring the situation before acting.
“This Budget should add stability to the economy, giving working people more money in their pocket and greater confidence about their finances. We feel positive about it and hope that it will deliver greater security for buyers and sellers to finalise their plans and act.”
If you’re thinking about moving home in West Wales get in touch to find out how we can help.