By David Byers.
Whilst we anxiously await the Autumn Budget announcement, the property market stands still.
Months of policy speculation ahead of the Autumn Budget is causing significant disruption to the UK housing market — particularly at the top end — with buyers and sellers alike choosing to pause rather than proceed, according to reporting in The Times.
Camilla Dell, Managing Partner at Black Brick, did not mince her words on the scale of the problem. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much kite-flying in a run-up to an autumn statement in my entire career,” she said — a sentiment echoed by agents across the prime and super-prime market.
The uncertainty is being felt most acutely in affluent London postcodes. Data from PropCast shows just eight in every 100 homes under offer in Mayfair and Marylebone (W1), and eleven in Paddington and Bayswater (W2) — figures that reflect both the abolition of non-dom status and the chilling effect of unresolved tax speculation. Sellers, meanwhile, are facing a dual bind: those with significant capital gains fear a CGT expansion covering primary residences above £1.5 million, while landlords are digesting reports that national insurance may be applied to rental income.
The result is a market caught in a holding pattern. Some owners are rushing to sell ahead of a potential Budget hit; others are pausing entirely until the picture clears. Meanwhile, buying chains are being disrupted as would-be downsizers sit tight rather than risk an unaffordable tax bill.
The prime central London market was already under pressure before the latest wave of speculation, with stamp duty increases, the end of non-dom status, and persistently high mortgage rates all weighing on activity. Nationally, Nationwide data shows average house prices fell 0.1% in the period, the fourth monthly decline in six months.
Read it here.