Autumn Budget 2025: What It Means for Home Buyers, Sellers & Landlords

With house prices, mortgage rates and taxes all shifting once again, here’s a simple breakdown of what the Autumn Budget 2025 really means for anyone involved in the UK housing market.

While some measures are aimed at businesses, plenty of the changes will affect everyday homeowners — especially landlords, movers and people saving for a deposit.

1. House Prices: Slower Growth Ahead

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expects the property market to remain steady, but not booming.

The forecasts:

• House prices expected to rise by around 3% in 2025
• Followed by around 2.5% a year from 2026
• Growth will be slightly lower (around 0.1% a year) from 2028 due to higher property income tax

What this means for you

✔ If you’re buying: price rises should be modest, giving you more time and less pressure.
✔ If you’re selling: properties should still appreciate, but don’t expect the rapid growth of past years.

2. Mortgage Rates Likely to Rise

The OBR expects average mortgage rates to increase from 3.7% (2024) to around 5% by 2029.

Good news?

They are not predicting a return to the sharp spikes seen after the Liz Truss mini-budget.

What this means for you

• Buyers: affordability will remain a challenge — get advice early and factor in future rate rises.
• Landlords: higher borrowing costs will continue to squeeze yields.
• Remortgaging homeowners: it’s worth reviewing your deal sooner rather than later.

3. Big Changes for Landlords: Higher Tax on Rental Income

From April 2027, rental income will be taxed at completely new rates:

• 22% for basic rate taxpayers
• 43% for higher rate
• 47% for additional rate

This is a noticeable increase and will affect anyone with a buy-to-let portfolio.

What landlords should consider

✔ Recalculating net yield
✔ Reviewing mortgage products before rates rise
✔ Considering whether to keep, sell or restructure property investments

4. Savings & Dividends Are Also Taxed More

From April 2026/27:

• Savings tax rates rise to 22%, 42% and 47%
• Dividend tax rises by 2% for most people

Most home movers won’t be affected — but this matters if:

✔ You’re saving for a deposit
✔ You own a small business
✔ You receive dividend income from investments

5. Pensions: Some Good News, Some Restrictions

Still positive:

• You can still pay up to £60,000 a year into a pension (subject to eligibility)
• Couples can often boost pension savings by using each other’s unused allowances

Coming in 2029:

Salary sacrifice for pensions will be capped at £2,000 before National Insurance applies.
This mainly affects employees rather than landlords or the self-employed.

6. Cars, Hybrids & Motoring Costs Increasing

Several measures affect everyday drivers:

• Hybrids will face higher tax from future updates
• Electric and hybrid vehicles will move into a new mileage-based levy (eVED) from April 2028
• Employee car ownership schemes (ECOS) will be taxed from 2030

For home buyers, the biggest impact is likely to be running costs, not house prices — but for landlords, higher motoring costs may affect maintenance travel.

7. HMRC Is Going More Digital — And It Will Affect Everyone

From 2026 onwards, HMRC will:

• Switch to digital communication by default
• Require more digital reporting (starting with benefits in kind in 2027)

For most households, this simply means:
✔ Fewer paper letters
✔ Everything handled online through GOV.UK accounts

8. What This Budget Means for the Housing Market Overall

• Prices continue rising, but slowly
• Mortgage rates stay higher for longer
• Landlords face higher taxes, which may cool the rental market
• Transactions expected to rise gradually to around 1.3 million a year by 2029

This paints a picture of a steady but subdued property market — no crash, but no surge either.

Final Thought: Stability With a Few Pinches of Pressure

For home buyers

→ You may find more choice and slightly gentler price rises.

For sellers

→ Realistic pricing is more important than ever.

For landlords

→ Tax changes mean now is the time to run the numbers and make sure your properties still work for you.

For everyone

→ The market is moving, but not dramatically. Steady planning beats rushing.