The Chancellor has unveiled a new first-time buyer scheme and ISA, increased taxes for landlords, and more.
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Your First Home could help you get on the property ladder. Eligible first-time buyers could buy a qualifying new-build home with a 2.5% deposit and a 20% government-backed equity loan from April 2027.
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A new First Time Buyer ISA will replace the Lifetime ISA. From April 2029, this new account type will offer a 25% bonus of up to £20,000 on top of savings.
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Prices are rising slowly and buyers have more choice. UK house prices rose 0.8% in the year to September, and there are 7% more homes for sale than a year ago.
The Chancellor has announced new measures to help first-time buyers, boost housebuilding activity, and increase how much tax is paid by landlords. So what could it all mean for you?
We’ve broken down the key announcements, whether you’re saving for your first home, selling your home, or renting.
Your First Home Scheme: help to buy a new-build
The government has pledged £4.7bn towards the Your First Home scheme. It’s a new equity loan scheme that we expect could benefit around 30,000 first-time buyers every year, depending on how price caps are set.
Here’s how it will work:
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The loan: the government will provide a 20% equity loan towards your new-build home. You won’t pay interest for the first 5 years, then it rises gradually.
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Your deposit: you’ll have to put down at least 2.5%, but no more than 15%.
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Household income caps: £110,000 outside of London and £140,000 in London.
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Price caps: based on median home prices in your local authority. The cap is £650,000 in inner London and £500,000 in outer London. In Manchester it’s £335,000, with other areas still to be confirmed.
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Key dates: pre-registration opens by the end of December 2026. Full applications open from February 2027, and the first loans will be issued from April 2027.
We predict this could help up to 30,000 first-time buyers a year get onto the property ladder if the price caps are reflective of the homes that first-time buyers actually want to purchase – that means it will support around 1 in 10 first home purchases.
We’re building filters and tools to help you find new homes that qualify in the Your First Home scheme hub. It’s the go-to place if you want to learn more, and keep updated with new details as they’re announced.
First Time Buyer ISA to replace the Lifetime ISA
A new First Time Buyer ISA will replace the Lifetime ISA (LISA) for new savers from April 2029. If you already have a LISA, you can keep it.
Here’s how the new ISA will work:
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Saving: up to £4,000 a year. You must be 18 or over, and there’s no upper age limit.
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Bonus: 25%, up to a maximum of £20,000 based on your final balance at the point of house purchase.
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When you get it: the bonus is paid at exchange of contracts, with no withdrawal charge. You then have 90 days to complete on your home purchase.
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House price limit: £450,000.
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The rules: so far, we know that you must hold the account for at least 1 year and use it in conjunction with a mortgage. You can choose a cash or a stocks and shares account, but you can only have one First Time Buyer ISA at a time.
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Help to Buy ISA: you can move your full balance in on top of the annual limit, between 6 April 2029 and 1 December 2030.
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LISA: you can’t transfer a LISA into a First Time Buyer ISA, but you can use both towards the same home purchase.
There’s a change to the LISA too. From 29 October 2026, the withdrawal charge drops from 25% to 20% for purchases above £450,000. This means if you buy a home for more than £450,000, you’d get back what you paid into the LISA and only lose the government bonus. The charge for unauthorised withdrawals stays at 25%.
In other news, the annual cash ISA limit will remain as £20,000 – which is good news for all types of savers.
More tax on landlord’s rental income
The Budget is set to add an extra 2% tax on the rental income that landlords make from April 2027, in addition to the 2% rise that was announced last year. This will put a pressure on the profits made by landlords who own a property in their own name.
Rents have risen from £1,008 to £1,350 a month on average over the past 5 years, an increase of 34% – with one of the driving factors being landlords seeking to mitigate the rising costs of things like insurance, mortgages, maintenance and repairs.
An extra tax could influence whether landlords buy, sell or keep letting a property – and it could also mean that rents are increased.
We’ll keep an eye on how this additional tax impacts the number of homes available to rent and the price of renting, and let you know what we’re seeing at a market level.
More homes: support for housebuilders and social housing
The Budget also includes measures to reduce costs for housebuilders and allocate funding to creating more social housing. There are also incentives to encourage the release of land for social housing.
These steps could help more homes get built and make them more affordable over time. But the impact of this will depend on how quickly the support is delivered, and whether it actually leads to more homes being built (something else we’ll keep an eye on).
The government have also pledged an extra £432 million for a programme aimed at giving everyone sleeping rough in England a route off the streets or other support by Christmas.
What it means for the market right now
Our latest House Price Index found that UK house prices rose 0.8% in the year to September. Sales agreed were down 7% year on year, but the number of homes for sale was up 7%.
If you’re buying, that means more choice. If you’re selling, a realistic asking price backed by data and finding an expert local agent to handle the process is more important than ever.
Uncertainty around a Budget can cause buyers and sellers to hesitate or hold off from making a move – now that these details have been released, people can resume planning their moves.
Other measures to help with the cost of living
The Budget also includes a number of measures aimed at easing everyday costs. Together, these could ease financial pressure whether you’re saving for a deposit, paying a mortgage or renting. These are some of the measures announced today:
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Less import tax on grocery items. Import taxes will be reduced on a selection of more than 100 food products, including gherkins and marmalade.
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Lower energy bills. Standing charges will be removed from household gas bills with costs added to the unit rate instead. The electricity VAT cut has been extended from April to July.
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Higher pay for some workers. The legal minimum wage will rise by 3.9%.
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Help with energy costs. A one-off £100 payment will go to 20 million households in England in council tax bands A-D to help with rising energy bills. There’s equivalent funding for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
