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Could Brits fall out of love with property?

ended 28. August 2025

Thisismoney / Mail Online are after views from property, mortgage and financial experts on what the overall effect of Rachel Reeves's recent rumoured property tax changes could be. 

Today, for example, it's been reported in the Times that Rachel Reeves is considering charging National Insurance to landlords, on rental income. 

It comes on top of reports in recent days of changes to the way stamp duty works, levying an annual tax on those with properties worth £500,000 or more, and changes to council tax. 

It's also been reported that Reeves could charge capital gains tax on people's main homes, if  they are worth more than £1.5million - being termed a 'mansion tax'. 

The journalist is after views on what would happen to the property market if all of the recently rumoured changes were implemented. How would it change house prices, rents, and demand and sentiment in the housing market? 

In short, could Britons fall out of love with property? Responses ASAP please as story being written this afternoon. Midday deadline.

10 responses from the Newspage community

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Philly Ponniah
Chartered Wealth Manager and Financial Coach at Philly Financial
People have long chosen property as an investment because they understood it. But if taxes turn increasingly punitive, the stock market may start to look more attractive. With its liquidity, diversification and no tenants to deal with, now could be the time for people to learn about investing beyond bricks and mortar.
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Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
Any further steals from landlords will just further fuel rent increases to some of the most vulnerable in society. Not only that, it will dent inflation further. Landlords are no longer wealthy, saving for a deposit is getting harder, unemployment is rising- this is creating the perfect storm.
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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Managing Director & IFA at Mather and Murray Financial
Landlords have been under attack for years, by successive governments and Reeves could tip the balance and kill the goose the lays the golden egg. There is a balance between squeezing one’s pips and making them squeak and she’ll have egg on her face when tax receipts fall because the buy to let market collapses.
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David Stirling
Independent Financial Adviser at Mint Wealth
Rachel Reeves is driving a bulldozer into the property market with these proposed changes. Love them or hate them, landlords are a necessary evil, and taxing them further will only be passed on to tenants in higher rents. The changes to stamp duty and capital gains tax don't seem thought through, more a madcap reaction to her panic at the impending fiscal black hole. With all these pressures potentially on property, the UK could start swiping left on bricks and mortar.
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Aaron Strutt
Product and Communications Director at Trinity Financial
If all of these rumoured policies were implemented some property owners would be hit a lot harder than others. If there is a tax on homes worth more than £500,000 there would be a period of pure anger and many would not vote for Labour again.
While stamp duty does need reform asking so many people who have probably already paid a substantial amount of tax to buy their overpriced properties with large mortgages to then pay more seems unfair and unjust.
The chancellor is under pressure to generate more in tax, and it does seem like the government thinks the property market is an easy target.
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Ben Perks
Managing Director at Orchard Financial Advisers
The property market is about to get ‘ghosted’ by the many Brits that will fall out of live with it. Reeves is about to well and truly give home owners the ‘ick’. Buying a home has never been trickier, selling a home could become more expensive and buying second homes is starting to make less sense financially. There is a real risk that the property market could come to a grinding halt.
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Rob Mansfield
Independent Financial Advisor at Rootes Wealth Management
Property is an ever popular investment. In part this is because it's had a great run with rising demand and supply that can't match it. Being able to borrow to invest speeds up your results. The downsides are that the government wants to build a lot more, to fix that supply issue. Tax is becoming tighter and tighter. Property is a big commitment as you can't sell part of a building and transactions take time to complete. That lack of flexibility could be an issue with the rumours of different tax changes coming. You have to ask yourself the question, do the numbers stack up?
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Tony Redondo
Founder at Cosmos Currency Exchange
This smacks of the latest step of Labour's "war on wealth". The proposed NI on rental income (8% up to £50,270, 2% above) would severely erode already pressured landlord yields, triggering portfolio disposals and rent increases. Counterintuitively, mass landlord exits could exacerbate rental shortages as properties convert to owner-occupancy. Properties under £500k might see increased demand from downsizing landlords, while £500k+ face downward pressure. London/Southeast would suffer most; Northern regions could outperform as investors seek better yields. The timing is crucial - simultaneous implementation risks market shock versus gradual adjustment. The critical question: will these measures improve affordability for first-time buyers or merely redistribute wealth without addressing supply constraints? The law of unintended consequences would suggest the latter is the most likely outcome.
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Pete Mugleston
Mortgage Advisor & Managing Director at onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk
The package of rumoured property tax changes looks less like reform and more like a raid on wealth. Hitting landlords with National Insurance, adding an annual levy on higher-value homes, and even talking about capital gains tax on main residences would be a huge shift in how property is treated in the UK. It risks discouraging investment in rental stock, worsening the supply crisis, and could drive some high-net-worth individuals out of the country altogether. The danger is that it plays well politically in the short term but ends up shrinking the tax base and damaging sentiment in the housing market long term.
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Graham Wells
Founder and Financial Coach at GroWiser Financial Coaching
It's no bad thing to temper the love affair that Brits have with property, but these rumours are more about desperation to raise tax, rather than a considered cultural shift. There's nothing wrong with a more transient lifestyle, where the flexibility and carefree nature of renting can support mobility. But taxing property ownership to the point of making it unattractive will have unintended consequences.