The Autumn Budget, unveiled today, marks the latest fiscal statement from Chancellor Rachel Reeves under the Labour Government. Following the announcement, we engaged with experts from across the business to gather their initial responses and better understand the implications for the property sector. Their reactions reflected a range of perspectives, shedding light on both the opportunities and challenges presented by this year’s measures.
Alasdair Dunne, Head of Residential Agency, said: “After months of speculation and troubling predictions about the Budget’s impact on the property market, the introduction in 2028 of an annual tax surcharge on properties valued at over £2 million can be seen as a more favourable outcome than many had anticipated.
“The £2,500 surcharge on top of council tax for properties worth £2 million or more, and up to £7,500 for those worth over £5 million, is tiny in the context of the prime residential market and is unlikely to have much of an effect on buyer and seller habits.
“One thing this Budget has done is ended the uncertainty present in the residential market, which should help unlock pent-up demand.
“Economic pundits have seen this Budget as anticlimactic but suggest that GDP growth could be a little bit weaker which paves the way for the Bank of England to cut the base rate. These cuts should lead to cheaper borrowing which will help unlock pent-up demand in the market following the period of recent uncertainty.”
Richard Gadd, Head of Rural Agency, said: “The so-called ‘mansion tax’ announced in today’s Budget is linked to council tax banding, which means farms with a house worth less than £2m but with additional land that pushes the overall property above this value should not be affected by it.
“With no changes to inheritance tax or capital gains tax announced by the Chancellor, there has been little direct impact on the rural property market bar increases to national minimum wage potentially affecting farm expenditure.
“While this is not a great Budget for farming, especially given the lack of reversal of last year’s changes to inheritance tax relief for farmers, it has been better than some may have previously thought.”
Sarah DeRenzy-Tomson, Head of Planning, said: “Whilst new measures relating to the planning system was only briefly touched upon with a mention of additional funding to boost new skills offer, there was limited additional detail. This means it remains unclear exactly how quickly new planning officers will be in post which is crucial to filling vacancies and delivering the planning decisions needed to drive the Government’s growth agenda forward and specifically its pledge to build 1.5 million new homes over this parliament.
“The bigger news in planning is that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill is making progress towards Royal Assent which is anticipated by the end of the year, and a revised National Planning Policy Framework is proposed for consultation also potentially before the end of the year”
Tom Giddings, Partner in our minerals & waste team, said: “It is extremely positive to see no change to the landfill tax and aggregates levy announced in the budget, which is significant for not burdening the construction materials market with additional costs and will help support housebuilders to keep building.
“More significantly, it’s also hugely positive that the proposed Landfill Tax reform is not being taken further by the government, an announcement which came as part of the budget statement.”
“The proposed changes would have included abolishing the lower landfill tax rate of £4.05 per tonne for inert waste - primarily clay - and moving all waste to the standard rate of £126.15 per tonne by 2030. In addition, several exemptions were proposed for removal from April 2027, including the quarry-filling exemption.
“This would have resulted in huge costs to the industry, so it is pleasing to see that the government has listened to representations made from across the housebuilding sector highlighting their concerns.”
Jonathan Young, our Head of Business Rates, said: “Since the Chancellor’s announcement around Business Rates in today’s Budget, further detail has since been revealed by Government.
“Business rate multipliers are coming down, with lower multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure paid for by higher multipliers for properties with a rateable value of £500,000 or more.
“However, this will still result in a 5 to 15% increase in rates for smaller operators of retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses next year. This is not the like-for-like replacement of COVID relief the Government promised.
“There will be a transitional relief scheme for this revaluation which will limit increases in rates bills. This will be partly funded by a supplement of 1p on the multiplier for one year paid by those not in receipt of Transitional Relief.
“As of today, the draft 2026 Ratings List is now available on the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) website, so it is possible to see the proposed Rateable Values as from 1st April2026.
“It is advisable for clients to get in touch with us to see if there is any potential action that needs to be taken.”
Darren Edwards, Head of Green Energy & Sustainability, said: “The direction of travel of the green energy sector in the UK has been clear for a long time now, driven by increasing awareness of climate change, the need to move away from fossil fuels and energy policy to facilitate the transition with the ultimate aim for successive governments to progress the journey to net zero by 2050.
“The sector has proven remarkably resilient against global crises and economic challenges over the past decade, and I was not therefore expecting any huge shockwaves from today’s budget, despite all the mixed-messaging, uncertainty and leaks in the build-up.
“The announcement to reduce household bills by £150 per year is of course positive for the consumer, however, this is being done by removing the green energy levy which partly funds government schemes which support the sector. We will consider the detail of this.
“And while the Government reaffirmed its commitment to further investing in nuclear including the manufacturing of small modular reactors at Wylfa, rather than green energy, it’s clear in my mind that the solution to powering the UK has to be a mix of sources.
“Investment in EV charging and the 3p per mile levy on electric vehicles is no surprise as the low tax implications were never going to be for the full life of the vehicle, and owners will hopefully have expected that they would be treated and taxed similarly to those driving non-electric vehicles eventually. The £200m funding to accelerate the rollout of EV charging infrastructure and business rate relief on charge points is a much-needed boost which should aid that market to progress after a stuttering few years.”