In the lead up to the Budget announcement, many economists had predicted that homebuyer caution would be likely to affect house prices, with an expected annual price growth of around 1.4%. However, according to Nationwide data, the annual house growth in November was recorded at 1.8%.
While this still represents a slowdown in annual growth, the impact of the pre-Budget uncertainty was not as significant as expected. November saw average house prices rise by 0.3% month on month, which was higher than Reuter’s prediction of 0.1%.
The Budget was announced on 26 November and one of the key changes affecting the property market is the new high-value council tax surcharge that will apply to properties worth over £2 million. The surcharges range from £2,500 per year for properties worth just over £2m and up to £7,500 for properties worth over £5m.
Nationwide’s chief economist, Robert Gardner provided his insights on the potential impact of the surcharge on the property market:
“The changes to property taxes announced in the budget are unlikely to have a significant impact on the housing market. The high-value council tax surcharge … will apply to less than 1% of properties in England and around 3% in London.”
Buying and selling at the same time?
Here are 10 things that could go wrong, and often do go wrong, and what, if anything, you can do to avoid them.
Buying and selling at the same time?
Here are 10 things that could go wrong, and often do go wrong, and what, if anything, you can do to avoid them.
The Bank of England has provided encouragement that the inflation rate has already peaked at 3.8%, which indicates that further cuts to the Bank of England base rate may follow. The last BoE base rate change saw the rate reduced to 4% in August, and the reduced borrowing costs has helped to maintain housing market activity.
If the BoE announce a further base rate reduction in December, the start of 2026 could see stronger house value growth, as the market tends to pick up from January and February after the holiday period.
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