Conveyancers and property commentators react to the Autumn Budget

Conveyancers and property commentators have given a mixed response to the Autumn Budget, welcoming the Your First Home scheme as a boost for aspiring buyers while warning that it will not resolve wider pressures on housing supply and delivery.

The absence of stamp duty reform drew criticism from the property sector, alongside calls for greater support for housebuilding and for conveyancers to help shape the new scheme.

Experts also warned that higher taxes on property income could prompt further landlord sales, adding to the demands on the already “struggling” sector.

Chloe Howard-Smith, partner in the transactional real estate team at Michelmores, said the government’s newest housing scheme “can’t come soon enough”.

“It has been a challenging year for the housebuilding industry,” she said. “We have seen SMEs who haven’t been able to weather those challenges.

“One key priority for the industry is to drive up sales rates and get people moving. The Your First Home scheme should help stimulate the market – and it can’t come soon enough.

“It will not solve all the viability issues for the sector but is a step in the right direction. The budget announcements suggest that there is a recognition by the government that they need to step in and help.”

Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla described there being an “appetite” for the scheme, however its success will depend on “getting price caps right to ensure enough homes qualify to make a meaningful difference”.

Zoopla estimates that over a third of new homes will be eligible for the scheme, Donnell revealed, with up to one in ten first-time buyers set to benefit each year, for an estimated three years, based on the £4.7 billion funding announced for it in the Budget.

Craig Carson, regional managing director at Barratt London commented: “The Your First Home equity-loan scheme is a positive step towards helping more first-time buyers onto the housing ladder.

“Our own research shows that 73% of aspiring buyers feel more optimistic about buying their first home following the scheme’s initial announcement, an encouraging early sign of its potential to stimulate demand. The First-Time Buyer ISA is another welcome signal of the Government’s determination to get the housing market moving.”

Meanwhile tmGroup CEO, Matthew Green, urged the government to include conveyancers into the initiative’s design process to “give it the best chance of success”.

Green said: “A scheme can only move as fast as the transactions that complete it, so if Your First Home is to deliver the volumes the government has targeted, the legal side of the transaction must be considered now, with digital processes, realistic timescales and clear guidance before launch.”

Erring on the side of caution, Andrew Lloyd, managing director at Search Acumen raised concerns about the Your First Home Scheme, stating “it does not solve the supply constraint caused by labour shortages and a glut of red tape”.

Lloyd did however praise the chancellor’s announced zero-rate tax on land sold to social housing providers, hailing it a “much-needed win” for the property sector.

Partner at Devonshire, Andrew Cromb, also welcome the announcement, saying it is a “step in the right direction” which should “aid delivery by making land acquisitions more straightforward, allowing for greater flexibility before the construction reaches the ‘golden brick’ stage”.

Weighing in on the Budget debate, Felicity Barnett, new build and affordable housing partnerships manager at Mortgage Advice Bureau said: “It’s more expensive than ever to build, which is why so many sites are weighted towards larger three, four, and five-bed homes to make the land viable.”

“If we want more homes suited to first time buyers, planning and local authorities need to work with housebuilders, as changing the mix on a site can send it straight back into planning.

“With planning approvals down 8% in Q1, there was a real opportunity today to speed things up, and it hasn’t been taken.”

Referring to the chancellor’s announcement of a 2% rise in tax on property income next April, Nicola Ashley, director at Ntitle, detailed how landlords having more incentive to sell-up will affect conveyancers.

Ashley said: “Conveyancers should expect a steady flow of portfolio sales over the next year, and these are often more complex than standard transactions.

“Combined with borrowing costs that remain stubbornly high, buyers and sellers could face a slower and more expensive process heading into 2027, unless the sector finds ways to work more efficiently.”

Rachel Geddes, strategic lender relationship director at Mortgage Advice Bureau, voiced her frustration at the absecne of stamp duty annoucements within the Budget, saying: “It was disappointing not to see any movement on stamp duty in today’s Budget.

“We’re not talking about a few hundred pounds saving with this type of reform – it can mean thousands, if not tens of thousands.

“Advisers have informed us that clients are holding off not just from deciding to buy, but from completing, until after the Budget. Alongside weaker consumer confidence more generally, that’s been one factor in the softer activity we’ve seen over the last month.”

Meanwhile Lucy McCallum head of residential conveyancing and board director at WSP Solicitors described the latest fiscal forecast as a “missed oppertunity”.

“The property market thrives when buyers and sellers have confidence and certainty around costs,” she said. “Unfortunately, the chancellor’s Budget has done little to provide that certainty.