Press Round Up December 2025

Wed 14 Jan 2026

The number of mortgages approved fell by 600 in October to 65,000 as borrowers waited to see what the Budget had in store, data from the Bank of England shows. Jeremy Leaf, principal of Jeremy Leaf & Co, told The Telegraph: “Mortgage approvals provide the best evidence of likely market activity over the next few months, and it’s clear from these figures that speculation about the Chancellor’s Budget took its toll.” However, he explained in The Standard that the situation may be about to improve: “We have often found in similar circumstances that the bigger the pause, the larger the reset. As a result, we are expecting a rebound over the next few weeks and a more sustained recovery in early 2026, based on what buyers and sellers have been telling us recently."

London house prices fell by more than two per cent year-on-year in October, according to the Office for National Statistics. Jeremy Leaf told City AM: “The continuing pattern of up-a-bit, down-a-bit, in house prices is not surprising but could have been considerably worse bearing in mind intense speculation about the contents of the Budget over the past few months."

The Labour government plans to introduce four more council tax bands from April 2028 in addition to usual council tax bills. Jeremy Leaf told The Express: “As affordability gradually improves, especially with another base rate cut looking likely, we expect transaction numbers to pick up. With the Budget out of the way, and mansion tax likely to raise relatively little additional revenue, especially given the deferred payment date, the impact on housing market activity should be minimal at worst."

Do estate agents expect a Boxing Day ‘bounce’ in enquiries this year? Jeremy Leaf told The Independent that while the signs are looking good, in his experience while the quantity of responses may increase at this time of year, the quality does not always follow. “It takes a while for us to really appreciate how serious activity is likely to be over the next few months. I wouldn’t recommend buyers necessarily jumping in and making decisions but to carefully consider what is available and how strong their position is… Interest rates may come down a little further but they tend to do so for a reason – in order to stimulate the economy amid concerns about growth and activity – so be very careful as to what you can afford."

The Bank of England cut interest rates to 3.75 per cent at its December meeting. Jeremy Leaf told Property Industry Eye “This cut is not a great surprise given the news that has come out this week which isn’t all good for the economy. The encouraging news is that the housing market has been relatively resilient despite many concerns about the contents of the Budget, which turned out not to be as bad as anticipated. We don’t expect fireworks after the new year but now interest rates are a little lower, we do expect a gradual improvement with property price increases tempered by continuing concerns about the economy and the amount of choice available. Many of our customers have been sitting on their hands, not knowing which way to turn but they haven’t withdrawn from the market altogether. Many are now saying since the Budget – ‘why not? rather than ‘why?” – which is what they were saying previously."