Autumn Budget 2026: What It Means for Buyers, Sellers and Landlords

So, the Budget has landed. Chancellor John Healey stood up on Wednesday 28 October 2026 and delivered his Budget, and there was quite a bit in there for anyone buying, selling or letting property.

If you didn't fancy sitting through the whole speech (we don't blame you), grab a cuppa. We've pulled out the property bits and explained them in plain English, so you know what's changing and when.

First-time buyers: a new helping hand with Your First Home

The headline grabber for buyers is a brand new £4.7 billion equity loan scheme called Your First Home. It's for first-time buyers in England and the government expects it to help around 70,000 households onto the ladder.

The catch worth knowing straight away: it's for new-build homes only, bought from developers who have signed up to the scheme. If you've got your heart set on a Victorian terrace, this one isn't for you. (If you are looking at new builds, our guide to new-build and shared ownership conveyancing explains what's different about buying one.)

Here's how it works:

• The government lends you 20% of the purchase price as an equity loan
• That loan is interest-free for the first five years. After that, interest starts at 1.5% in year six and 3% from year seven
• You'll need a deposit of at least 2.5% (and no more than 15%), plus a repayment mortgage from a participating lender
• Household income caps are £110,000 outside London and £140,000 in London
• Price caps are set by local median prices, topping out at £650,000 in inner London and £500,000 in outer London
• What you repay is linked to the value of your home at the time, not just the amount you borrowed

To put some numbers on it, on a £300,000 new build you could put down £7,500, borrow £60,000 from the government and take a £232,500 mortgage for the rest.

Timings: pre-registration should open by the end of December 2026, full applications from February 2027, and the first loans are expected from April 2027. So if you're thinking of buying next spring, it's worth keeping an eye on this one.

One small word of caution. The Office for Budget Responsibility thinks the scheme will only make a marginal difference to the number of homes being built, and could nudge prices up slightly by boosting demand.

If family are helping with the deposit instead, our gifted deposits guide covers the declaration and evidence your lender and conveyancer will need.

Saving for a deposit: Lifetime ISA changes and a new First Time Buyer ISA

If you've been squirrelling money away in a Lifetime ISA, there's some good news that's already in force.

Until now, if you bought a first home over the £450,000 price cap and used your LISA money, you'd be hit with a 25% withdrawal charge. That meant losing some of your own savings, not just the bonus. From 29 October 2026, that charge drops to 20% for first-home purchases over the cap (as long as everything else about the purchase qualifies). Other unauthorised withdrawals still carry the 25% charge.

Looking further ahead, a new First Time Buyer ISA will replace the Lifetime ISA for new savers from April 2029:

• Save up to £4,000 a year
• Get a 25% government bonus, capped at £20,000
• Use it towards a first home worth up to £450,000
• No upper age limit, unlike the LISA

Already got a Lifetime ISA? Don't panic. You can keep paying in and using it under the current rules. The new ISA still needs legislation before it launches, so the detail could change, and if you're deciding what to do with your savings it's worth taking financial advice.

Buying under £500,000 as a first-time buyer? Our guide to stamp duty in 2026 for first-time buyers shows what you'd actually pay.

Landlords: another tax rise on rental income

Landlords, we're afraid this one isn't great news. Last year's Budget had already set rental income tax rates to rise by 2 percentage points from April 2027. The Chancellor has now added another 2 points on top.

From 6 April 2027, property income in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be taxed at:

• Basic rate taxpayers: 24%
• Higher rate taxpayers: 44%
• Additional rate taxpayers: 49%

These are income tax rates, so they hit landlords who own property in their own name rather than through a company. The Scottish and Welsh Governments can also set their own property income rates.

In real terms, a basic-rate landlord with £10,000 of taxable rental profit would pay £2,400 a year, rather than the £2,200 they'd have paid under the previously planned rate.

If you're a landlord thinking about your portfolio (or whether to buy, sell or restructure), take advice from your accountant before April 2027 rolls around. If you own with someone else, our guide to joint ownership explains how the way you hold the property is recorded.

Homes worth £2 million or more: the council tax surcharge takes shape

We now have more detail on the High Value Council Tax Surcharge. From April 2028, owners of homes in England worth £2 million or more (based on April 2026 values) will pay an annual surcharge on top of their normal council tax:

• £2m to £2.5m: £2,500 a year
• £2.5m to £3.5m: £3,500 a year
• £3.5m to £5m: £5,000 a year
• £5m and above: £7,500 a year

A few things worth knowing:

• It's the owner who pays, not the occupier, which matters if you let out a high-value property
• There'll be a deferral scheme for eligible owners (for example, lower-income households), plus some exemptions and discounts
• Homes left substantially unfurnished and empty for 12 months or more will pay a 100% premium
• Draft valuation bands are due in autumn 2027, with first bills in March 2028, and you'll be able to challenge your band
• From 2029-30 the charges will rise each year with inflation

If you're buying or selling at this end of the market, it's something to factor into your numbers now, and to take advice on if it affects you.

Stamp duty: what's changed (and what hasn't)

Let's get the big one out of the way. There's no change to the headline stamp duty rates for buying a home, so the rates you pay on a purchase stay as they are.

There is one tidy-up worth mentioning, though. Following the Renters' Rights Act 2025, the government is removing Stamp Duty Land Tax on rent paid under assured tenancies in England, with effect from 1 May 2026. In plain terms, tenants won't owe stamp duty, or have to file a return, just because their rent adds up past the threshold. Sensible stuff. It goes into the next Finance Bill.

The bigger picture: new homes and where the market's heading

On the supply side, there's an extra £1.5 billion for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme, which should support around 10,000 homes in England. Land sold to registered social housing providers will also be VAT zero-rated from 1 April 2027.

As for the market, the Office for Budget Responsibility is forecasting:

• House prices to grow by around 2% in 2026 and 2.5% in 2027
• Property transactions to rise from around 1.2 million in 2026 to 1.3 million by 2031
• The average interest rate across existing mortgages to creep up from around 4% to 5% by 2031, as people come off older, cheaper deals

So, steady rather than spectacular, with mortgage costs worth keeping an eye on. If your fixed rate is ending, our guide to remortgaging your home explains the legal side of switching lender, and our piece on e-signed mortgage deeds explains how some lenders now let you sign without a witness.

So, what now?

Most of these changes don't kick in until 2027 or later, and many still need to make it through Parliament, so some of the detail could still change. But if you're a first-time buyer, a landlord, or buying or selling a higher-value home, it's well worth thinking about how the timings fit your plans.

If you're planning a move, our guide to how long conveyancing takes will help you work back from a target date, and our fees page sets out what we charge. We act for buyers and sellers anywhere in England and Wales through online conveyancing.

As always, if you've got questions about how any of this affects your move, the team at Bonsai Law is happy to help. Send us a message and we'll reply in plain English, no jargon and no pressure.

Sources

• HM Treasury, Budget 2026 (28 October 2026), paragraphs 5.5 to 5.9 and 6.237
• MHCLG, Your First Home (28 October 2026)
• HMRC, Income Tax: changes to tax rates for property and savings income (29 October 2026)
• HMRC, Reduce Lifetime ISA withdrawal charge for properties over the property price cap
• MHCLG, High Value Council Tax Surcharge (updated 28 October 2026)
• Office for Budget Responsibility, Economic and fiscal outlook, October 2026, paragraphs 2.59 to 2.63 and 3.22

Figures reflect the Budget announcements of 28 October 2026. Tax and scheme details may change as legislation passes, so take advice on your own position before you act.