Latest ONS figures show average UK house prices decreased by 0.7% between November 2025 and December 2025, compared with a decrease of 0.2% in the same period 12 months ago. House prices in inner London boroughs declined on average by 4.6% during 2025. The biggest annual drop since 2008…
Unsold homes are piling up in London, with Zoopla reporting 14% more properties than a year ago. In parts of London, 15% of homes for sale have already had price cuts. Last year, London homes took 72 days to find a buyer, with houses taking on average 63 days to go under offer and flats 85 days, according to Hamptons. One in three sales still fell through…
Higher mortgage rates have curtailed affordability, along with Reeves’ mansion tax imposed in the last Budget – where owners of homes worth more than £2 million will have to pay an additional “high value council tax surcharge”. Labour’s stamp duty changes, raising costs on foreign buyers while cutting thresholds, have also crushed confidence. In April 2025, the nil-rate Stamp Duty threshold was cut from £425,000 to £300,000, with relief lost entirely for properties worth more than £500,000 – dragging nearly 37,000 first-time buyers into paying stamp duty in 2024/25. London’s housing market hitting a brick wall…
Starmer was read out a list of his 13 U-turns on BBC Radio 2, to which he responded:
“Well, I am a common sense merchant.”