Spring Budget Statement 2025 – Landlord Reactions

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s under pressure (definitely not an emergency budget) Spring Statement alleviated concerns among private landlords by avoiding an increase in Stamp Duty rates for second-home purchases.

Despite pre-statement criticism labelling it an ‘Emergency Budget’, the address largely echoed prior announcements, offering little in the way of surprises.

Reeves opened her speech with confidence, declaring she is ‘proud’ of Labour’s achievements since taking office.

Growth forecast halved this year down to 1% from 2% and inflation up for an average of 3.2%.

Most housebuilding in 40 years

A key highlight was the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projection that government reforms will push housebuilding to its highest level in four decades.

“To build these new homes, we need people with the right skills,” Ms Reeves emphasised.

She pointed to a £600m investment announced earlier by the Education Secretary to train 60,000 additional construction workers, alongside plans for 10 new technical excellence colleges across Britain to empower workers.

Rachel Reeves emphasised that planning reforms, including the use of grey belt land and mandatory housing targets, could increase real GDP by 0.2% by 2029-30.

She added that changes to national planning policy alone will help deliver over 1.3 million homes across the UK within the next five years.

She said: “This will take Labour within touching distance of its promise to build 1.5 million homes in England during this Parliament.”

Inflation to rise

On the economic front, the OBR predicts inflation will hover at 3.2% in 2025, easing to 2.1% in 2026, and hitting the 2% target by 2027.

However, Ms Reeves faced a setback as the OBR revised the 2025 growth forecast downward from 2% to 1%. She also revealed that welfare adjustments and cuts will trim the budget by £4.8bn, with deeper changes than previously disclosed.

“The Universal Credit standard allowance will increase from £92 per week in 2025-26 to £106 per week by 2029-30, while the Universal Credit Health element will be cut by 50% and then frozen for new claimants,” she told Parliament.

It’s an ‘emergency Budget’

Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride, speaking for the Conservatives, hit back sharply. He argued that Ms Reeves had vowed to stabilise public finances but instead delivered an “emergency budget.”

He feared that Britain, once the G7’s fastest-growing economy, has seen expansion halved due to her policies.

“This is her legacy,” he said, accusing her of deflecting blame onto global figures like Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, as well as the Tories. “This is a consequence of her choices; she is the architect of her own misfortune.”

Mr Stride further slammed Reeves for “tanking” the economy, warning that millions across the UK dread the upcoming tax year. “Even a basic economist knows that if you tax something, you get less of it,” he said.

He claimed her focus on taxing jobs and wealth creation has battered livelihoods, enterprises, and small firms – the lifeblood of Britain’s economy.

PRS is creaking

The chief executive of Goodlord, William Reeve, said: “The PRS is creaking under intense pressure. A lot of this is attributable to supply and demand; there simply aren’t enough homes to go around.

“Today’s announcement that £2bn will be directed towards social house building is welcome, but the planned 18,000 homes barely touches the sides of what’s needed.

“We’re going too slowly to hit the Government’s target of 1.5m new homes this parliament, which in itself won’t be enough to close the UK’s housing gap.

“And we are falling behind our neighbours – the numbers are stark when you compare our housing stock with countries like France. This is being compounded by anti-market reforms. Despite the Government’s narrative about promoting growth and stripping away red tape, where housing is concerned it is doing the opposite.

“It is inhibiting the market from finding solutions that would reduce the amount of money the Government needs to pour into the sector.”

Industry reaction to Spring Statement

Missed opportunity to support renters

Ben Beadle, Chief Executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “The Spring statement was a missed opportunity to support renters across the country.

“It has done nothing to tackle the chronic shortage of rental housing to meet demand.

“It has done nothing to reform a broken tax system which is failing to encourage and support investment in energy efficiency improvements.

“And it has done nothing to address the unjust freeze on housing benefit which is leaving so many renters fearful of how they will afford their rents.”

Housing market needs a strong and growing economy

Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, said: “The housing market needs a strong and growing economy to support housing supply. It’s promising to see the Government focusing on longer-term impact by boosting funding for new homes and avoiding short-term measures like stamp duty holidays that don’t really help with the fundamental challenges in the housing market.

“The top priority should be an easing of mortgage regulations, which will support first-time buyers, an important buyer group for homebuilders and the broader market.

“This would also help the rental sector, where there are still 12 people chasing every home for rent, with those on low incomes bearing the brunt. Increased funding for social housing is essential in the upcoming Spending Review to help support housing delivery and boost the stock of social rented homes, which has been static for 30 years.”

Rising costs of temporary accommodiation

Josie Parsons, chief executive, at housing association Local Space, said: “While this week’s announcement of an extra £2bn to unlock affordable housing delivery is to be welcomed, in the context of soaring levels of homelessness, and the burden this is placing on many councils, we remain deeply concerned about the ability of local government to have adequate funding to deal with this.

“The rising costs of providing temporary accommodation are driving many councils to the point of financial failure and the impact of proposed welfare changes which may affect some of the most vulnerable in society, risk creating a perfect storm of rising homelessness levels and councils less able to afford good quality housing.

“Given the scale of the challenge we would urge the Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister to enhance homelessness budgets, review the impact of some of the planned welfare changes, and consider diverting some of the £2bn of funding into rapidly scaling-up the supply of high-quality temporary accommodation until the much-needed new social housing becomes available.”

Planning reforms will boost national income

Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns for Propertymark, said: “The Spring Statement had a clear focus on the vital role housing plays in the UK economy and as part of the UK government’s plan for growth, so it is encouraging to hear that planning reforms will boost national income.

“However, workforce challenges remain and it’s vital that local councils have the resources required to deliver effective planning and infrastructure so communities up and down the country and the wider economy really benefit.”

Extremely disappointing

Rightmove’s property expert Colleen Babcock says: “It’s extremely disappointing that the government have not used the Spring Statement as an opportunity to extend the impending Stamp Duty deadline for those currently going through the home-moving process. We estimate over 70,000 buyers are going to miss the deadline and complete in April instead, and a third of those are first-time buyers.

“Given the current challenges faced by first-time buyers, our data shows that a typical first-time buyer in Britain now faces average monthly mortgage payments of £940, a 59% increase compared with £590 per month five years ago.

“Over that same period rents have increased by 40% across Great Britain. So, while we welcome the government’s focus and investment to help build more affordable homes, we’re keen to hear more about how this, or other incentives, can help more first-time buyers.”

Tax rises lurking in Autumn Budget

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance, at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The economic forecasts made for less grim reading than expected, after Rachel Reeves introduced a surprise twist in the tale. The forecast for growth has been cut for this year, but it has been hiked for every other year of the forecast. Along with the £500 boost to real incomes, this was welcome good news for the government to be able to share.

“The spending cuts have kept Reeves the right side of her fiscal rules. However, there’s not a vast amount of space in the budget, so if we don’t get the growth the government is hoping for, there could be tax rises lurking in the autumn Budget.

“The election pledges painted Labour into a bit of a corner, because it promised not to raise any of the big three revenue raisers: income tax, national insurance or VAT. If the party sticks with these pledges, it’s going to need to make a myriad of changes to other taxes – and even consider a new kind of tax – to try to close the gap.”

Nothing to support landlords stay in the sector

Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, says: “Our first wish was granted – the Chancellor didn’t do much, if anything, to deter existing activity in the housing market.

“The first way of dealing with a problem is to recognise it and the Government seems to have realised that there is a housing crisis.

“It has been widely accepted that affordable housing in particular is insufficient and improving planning is a significant contributor to that aim.

“Rachel Reeves said herself that it is too slow so the extra funding announced yesterday in the social and affordable homes programme is good news, although we still need more detail of where, when and how those spades are going to be in the ground.

“We were sorry not to see anything supporting landlords to stay in the sector because it is not just a question of keeping house prices in check, but also rents, which have softened a little lately but are still too high.

“Overall, it’s a six out of ten. Could do better and hopefully this will improve to an eight out of ten in the next few months if these policies are seen to be making a contribution.”

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