Budget Comments

On the 30^thOctober 2024, Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered the first Labour Budget in 14years. Below are the key announcements affecting the property industry and SiteSales’ key insights into the short and long-term impact.

Housing Supply

It was reiterated further the commitment to building 1.5 million homes this government and a £5 billion investment was announced in order to deliver this. The government has £500 million dedicated to boosting the Affordable Housing Program and £25 million put towards delivering 3,000 energy-efficient new homes with all of these set to be affordable. There will also be £3 billion support for small and medium enterprises and the Build to Rent sector in the form of housing guarantee schemes. The government has also pledged to hire ‘hundreds of new planning officers’ to accelerate housebuilding.

SiteSales anticipates that there will be minimal impact over the short term however the London housing market should begin to see the effects of this by mid-2025 when planning approval timelines should begin to improve and then by early 2026 we should begin to see the physical supply enter the market.

Taxation& Mortgages

There were no changes to Capital Gains Tax on Residential Property however Stamp Duty was a heavily discussed issue at Budget 2024. For those purchasing a second home, including landlords, Stamp Duty is set to increase from 3% to 5% as of yesterday. Additionally, there was no mention of an extension to the current stamp duty relief for first-home buyers which is set to end March 2025. As previously mentioned, the government plans to make the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme permanently available, however more detail of this is not set to be released until Spring 2025

SiteSales sees the next five months as a critical opportunity for First Home Buyers to get on the property ladder in the event that there is no extension to the stamp duty relief. This period may also prove to be advantageous for first-homebuyers as there will likely be an immediate slow down of demand from second-home buyers and investors.