24/06/2026
๐ A rent freeze, the end of Stamp Duty and a yearly property tax. Burnham's ideas, worth doing the maths on
Andy Burnham has for years publicly argued for tighter regulation of the housing market, and three ideas come up most often. A rent freeze, swapping Stamp Duty and Council Tax for an annual tax on property value, and a much bigger social housebuilding programme. It all sounds like care for the ordinary person, and perhaps that is the intention. The devil sits in the numbers though, and those are worth reading before the headlines read them for us.
๐๏ธ A rent freeze, the relief that can bite back
A rent freeze gives tenants instant relief, so it is no surprise it sounds appealing. The trouble shows up later, because some landlords lose the will to keep and to buy property to let. Scotland capped rents after 2022, and the result was higher rates between tenancies and a smaller supply of homes. Fewer properties on the market means higher costs for those still hunting for a roof, which is the opposite of what was promised.
โ๏ธ Stamp Duty goes, and a yearly tax knocks every year
Scrapping Stamp Duty lifts a one off cost from the buyer, which on a ยฃ290,000 home sits at roughly ยฃ4,500 today. In its place comes an annual tax on the value of the property. The proposed rate is 0.46 percent for a first, owner occupied home and 0.96 percent for every additional property. On a ยฃ290,000 home that works out at around ยฃ1,334 a year for a first home and around ยฃ2,784 for an extra one, so a single payment quietly becomes a yearly subscription.
๐ A low rate today, which is how these things usually start
At first glance the rates look gentle, and some people really would pay less than they do now. The history of taxation suggests caution though, because new levies rarely shrink over time. Once in place they tend to climb, and the thresholds widen without much fuss. Governments with a strong appetite for redistribution need bigger receipts to fund their plans, so the pressure to raise that rate in later years would be very real.
๐๏ธ More social housing, and the age old question of who pays
Building more council homes lifts overall supply, and at the lower end of the market that can slow the rise in prices and rents. That is a genuine upside and it deserves an honest mention. The question is where the money comes from, because funding such a programme by printing it carries an inflation risk. Higher inflation usually means higher interest rates, and so dearer mortgage payments for the average family, a bill that someone ends up paying anyway.
What to keep an eye on with these ideas:
๐ท An annual tax of 0.46 percent on a first home and 0.96 percent on the next
๐๏ธ A smaller supply of private rented homes after a rent freeze
โ๏ธ The risk that the tax rate rises in the years ahead
๐ The gap between nominal prices and the real value of money
What you can do right now:
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Work out what the yearly tax would be for your property
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Check how your mortgage holds up if rates rise
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Make decisions on the numbers, not the headlines
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Talk your situation through with an adviser
YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE OR ANY OTHER DEBT SECURED ON IT.
