
Episode 333: Healey's First Budget - What It Really Means for Your Market
The Autumn Budget, what it means for the property market, and what to do about it this week. On Wednesday I was on back to back calls while the Chancellor was on his feet. Then I got a train down to London for The Spectator’s post Budget briefing at the Emmanuel Centre, chaired by Michael Gove, with James Kendall. I got home at midnight and was back at my desk at 6am the next morning reading through the lot. That meant the Budget documents, the OBR’s 200-page forecast, the Lloyds Market Insights call, and the reactions from Rightmove, Zoopla, Savills, Knight Frank, Moneyfacts, the brokers and plenty of agents. This episode is the bits that actually matter for our industry, explained the way your clients will want to hear them. I cover what was announced and, just as importantly, what wasn’t. Stamp duty is unchanged, and the big tax reliefs that protect homeowners all survived. Then the bit that barely made the news. How the gilt markets reacted, how gilts feed into swap rates and fixed rate mortgages, why “boring” was the best result your buyers could have hoped for, and why that still doesn’t mean cheaper mortgages are coming. Your First Home, the new 2.5% deposit scheme for first time buyers. How it works, the small print, and why Rightmove found most new builds in some areas wouldn’t qualify. What it means for sellers, including the mansion tax bands, and why your lettings book could be your best source of sales instructions after landlords took their second tax rise in twelve months. What it means for tenants and rents, what the government’s own forecaster expects for prices, sales and new homes over the next five years, and what happened to the market around the last four Budgets. Plus what the Spectator panel and Lloyds’ economists think could happen next, from rate rises to election talk, and why every time you hear it, you should think gilts, swaps, mortgages. And finally, the six things I want you to do this week. Starting Monday. Your clients don’t need you to have an opinion on the Chancellor. They need you to explain what it means for their move, calmly and accurately, before anyone else does. If you have any questions at all, or want a copy of my written Budget article to share with your own clients, send me a message and I’ll happily share it with you.