2024 Autumn Budget: Housing

On 30th October 2024 the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves delivered the Autumn budget which we had previously been warned would be “difficult”. Below we have summarised the main housing points.

House Building

The chancellor advised that the government will invest more than £5bn to deliver their housing plan. She confirmed that they will increase their Affordable Homes Programme to £3.1bn, provide £3bn worth of support and promises to increase the number of homes and support small housebuilders. The right to buy discount will also be reduced and local authorities will be able to retain more money from sales.  

Stamp Duty

The chancellor has confirmed that first time buyers will continue being exempt from paying stamp duty on properties up to £425,000, this is set to be reduced to £300,000 from the 1st April 2025.

Targeting landlords and those with second properties, the chancellor revealed that second-home buyers will have to pay an additional 2% stamp duty from the 31st of October 2024.

Cladding

The government will give £1bn to fast-track the removal of dangerous cladding on homes following the Grenfell Tower incident.

Recent posts

According to a report in the Guardian, senior ministers have asked Treasury officials to look into a “proportional” property tax to see how it would work as an alternative to the existing stamp duty land tax on owner-occupied homes. 

More than a quarter of UK adults in long-term relationships (26%) have reported that despite living together, they keep their finances separate from one another.

There has been a rise in both rent and mortgage costs over the last three years, with renters seeing a greater increase in their monthly payments than those with a mortgaged property.

The new Delayed Start Mortgage launched by Skipton Building Society allows first time buyers to postpone the first three mortgage payments. This product has been designed to help soften the blow of moving in costs for first time buyers. 

Mortgage lenders are starting to recognise their “Green” responsibilities when it comes to the different products they offer. 

A recent study by Boon Brokers where 1,000 people who had used an estate agent over the last year were surveyed, showed that a whopping 52% said they were pressured into using the estate agents’ in-house mortgage broker.

Analysts are predicting further rate cuts this year, with the next one possibly coming down to 4% when the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee meet on Thursday 7th August 2025.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has shared new changes to mortgage rules with the aim to simplify remortgaging, and encourage competition within the mortgage market.