Budget 2024: Residential Property Comments

With housing starts in the doldrums and rents, mortgages and residential properties as unaffordable as ever, it was striking to note how little of today’s speech related to housing and planning. It’s hard not to conclude that the Government now feels that issues within the residential property market will not be a favoured battle ground for them in the coming General Election, other than sloganeering about the green belt and commonhold.

Several kites were flown in the run-up to the budget, but the reality was a distinct lack of innovation or creative thinking in relation to issues such as downsizing, property taxes or improving the environmental quality of our housing stock. 

The abolition of multiple dwelling relief and Capital Gains Tax (CGT) tinkering may have grabbed the attention, but hard-working conveyancers will be breathing a sigh of relief that the now almost-traditional scramble to work a new Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) regime into all their current transactions has been largely avoided. 

Their clients however will still be wondering how to house themselves and their families in an acceptable and affordable way. It remains also to be seen how the replacement of non-dom status will play out in the high-end property market.

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