2025 – A Year of Tariffs & Budgets

The traditional winter slowdown in the local property market started much earlier and more deeply than usual this year. This was as a direct result of speculation since the summer that the Government were going to introduce a raft of measures in the autumn budget that might affect the housing sector. These included an overhaul of the Stamp Duty system, a raid on savers’ pension pots, changes to Capital Gains Tax relief on the sale of main homes, the introduction of a Mansion Tax amongst several other possibilities.

The rumours had a marked impact on the market with a sizable number of sellers and buyers putting their moving plans on hold whilst others made a concerted effort to secure a sale/purchase ahead of the budget. This led to Rural View agreeing a good tranche of sales in September and early October but otherwise activity levels tailed off sharply in the weeks leading up to the chancellor’s autumn statement at the end of November.

Apart from an annual surcharge being levied on homes valued over two million pounds from 2028 and a 2% rise in property income tax, the budget was something of a non-event as far as property is concerned. However, all the speculation leading up to it over several months eroded market confidence leading to weaker demand and prices. Its late timing meant that effectively the property year was already over for new business by the time it came around albeit we remained busy managing the sales we arranged earlier in the autumn to successful conclusions.

Home movers in 2025 could have done without the long build-up to the budget and the associated rumour mill as the year had already got off to a challenging start following the global consternation caused by President Trump’s erratic tariff announcements. Despite the ramifications these had on stock markets and investor confidence, Rural View agreed a good level of sales throughout the year.

Over the late spring/early summer period we were delighted to have been favoured as the chosen agents for a sizable number of sellers with many of these instructions coming as a result of personal recommendations. This led to us having our largest ever register of homes to sell and under offer.

Looking forward to 2026, the thinking is that we will see a return to normality in the housing sector over the coming year and we are quietly optimistic that trading conditions will improve and get back on track again in the spring, possibly earlier. A period of political and economic stability both in the UK and globally would certainly be most welcome!

Mark Matthews, Rural View Dec 2025