Budgeting as reality bites

London property recap: 21 November 2025

By this time next week we’ll have seen some long-awaited and much debated budget proposals made reality – and we’ll also know which ones we shouldn’t have bothered fretting over. I expect the relief to be as palpable as the cessation of pain you get when you finally finish doing your static wall sits on leg day.

Running a sweepstake? Personally I don’t think there’s any chance of capital gains tax on primary properties. I’d be surprised if stamp duty changed much too – it’s a lot of work. But I can see a bump in Council Tax coming for the highest bands. (That’s not to say I think it’s a good idea!)

I’ve covered all those issues – and warned just the sheer fear of them would slow the property market – on Propegator since I started writing here back in July. I’d also argue this little newsletter was early in flagging up the total collapse in new-build housing sales in London. Obsessional reading does help you smell the smoke signals.

But with the budget (hopefully) marking a new phase, it seems as good a point as any to reveal that I’m going to have to cut down on Propegator posting for the foreseeable.

I don’t want to! But it’s as near-as-dammit doctor’s orders.

I thought I could do a Substack on the side as I compiled my Monevator weekend links, but it’s reliably taking at least four or five hours to get it done, once you take the article reading (and proof reading) into account. And the sad fact is I don’t reliably have that time to spare, or at least not to deploy at yet more staring at screens.

It’s a shame because the statistics on my Substack dashboard are as good as anything I’ve ever seen for online media.

The vast majority of you open every email! And almost nobody unsubscribes. These are strong signs that most of you like this format.

Maybe I can come back to it in the future. To that end, please don’t unsubscribe!

I’m still planning to post occasional missives on Propegator. But they will be more thematic – and more as and when.

Perhaps every four to eight weeks? We’ll see.

In the meantime thanks for sharing your inbox with me so far – and best of luck for budget day.

• Confident Reeves won’t stiff owners of million-pound plus homes with a mansion tax? Then maybe you can go where others fear to trade to pick up this three-bedroom flat in South Kensington’s prestigious Queen’s Gate Terrace. The price was cut today by £150,000 to £1,400,000 – it was initially listed in May at £1.8m! There’s 1,558 sq ft arranged over two floors and outside space. There’s even a lift. But the interiors would need work just to let it out to students. Funny definition of a mansion, eh? Also, only 86 years left on the lease – SLM Property

The links

Shortcuts for the discerning property fanatic.

News

London prices down by £7,000 on average as buyers brace for a ‘mansion tax’ – LBC

Why 300,000 homes could be hit with a £2,000 council tax increase – Yahoo Finance

Is London’s ‘Billionaires’ Row’ really back in business? - Standard

Freehold appeal threatens to delay leasehold reform - This Is Money

Mayor faces pressure to build more London homes – BBC

Bethnal Green’s iconic Blue House for sale for first time for £3m - Standard

New homes earmarked near train stations to get ‘default yes’ from planners – Sky

Campaigners fail to block 18-storey tower in Whitechapel - Standard

A third of home sellers have cut their prices ahead of the budget - This Is Money

Mortgages, moving, and other money matters

How to get a low offer on a home accepted – Guardian

Santander cuts some mortgage rates to as low 3.55% - This Is Money

Six London areas where terraced homes cost less than £500,000 [Brave souls…] – Metro

How the latest inflation dip affects your mortgage and your food shop – BBC

The most affordable places to buy in Britain – Which

How to save money on energy bills – Guardian

Gazumping insurance could save you thousands – This Is Money

The investing angle

A property analyst on what the UK market will do in 2026 – This Is Money

Two-thirds of English councils have not prosecuted a single landlord in the past three years – Guardian

Checklist for landlords ahead of the Renters’ Rights Act – Landlord Today

Find more investing and money insights at our sister site Monevator

Good bones

Five kitchen trends for 2026 – Country Living

A very Alice in Wonderland farmhouse renovation – FT

Changing tastes in open-plan living room design - The Spruce

Lonika Chande’s dos and don’ts of decorating – House & Gardens

Your great outdoors

Pity the fool who owns a pool - Guardian

Top garden designers reveal the biggest garden mistake – The Middle-sized Garden

Property picks, home…

I know the ‘Charlton Slopes’ aren’t Blackheath proper – and this terrace isn’t even on the Charlton Slopes proper. But still, you get a lot of nicely-renovated Victorian house for £800,000 here. The 32-foot lower-ground kitchen and living area opens onto a cute garden and there’s two more storeys above that. Second loo, too. A pre-budget bargain? As usual my sister had a more sober verdict: “I’m not going down stairs to wee in the night.” Also it’s a 20-minute walk from a station (Westcombe Park). Though only ten minutes from Blackheath Standard and an M&S… – Winkworth

Would you ever get used to living on the 32nd floor of a tower block in the Barbican? Imagine gazing out over the beautiful-ugly blockwork below, like a toddler teetering over their LEGO creations, before popping into the lift to the ground floor and a two-minute stroll to see Philip Glass debuting his latest piano work in the concert hall next door. Experience suggests, depressingly, that it would at least get normal. If you’ve got £1.8m for this 1,252 sq ft apartment – benefiting from three bedrooms and a major interior makeover – then let me know how it goes? - The Modern House

When I lived in Crouch End a quarter-of-a-century ago, a friend was about to start a family in one of the desirable houses along tree-lined Weston Park. Half of the couple – the luckier half – inherited what was then a £950,000 house. I gasped: where was I supposed to get nearly £1m from? Well now this admittedly very tarted-up example costs £2.8m, which I have to believe is punchy. Your nearly-£3m buys you 2,550 sq ft of the “honestly, it’s more like a village” dream, and complaints from visiting friends who must schlep up on the bus from untameable Finsbury Park – Goldschmidt & Howland

…and away

I’m re-reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, so no wonder on looking at the map of the Isle of Skye at places like Duirinish and Edinbane I’m half-scanning for elven Rivendell 🧝. This cottage is situated in Sconser – a name more from the hobbit school of nomenclature, though Elven-ish ‘Peinchorran’ is just across the water – and here in the real-world £275,000 gets you a two-bedroom bungalow, with a mountain behind and views of lochs everywhere else. Pretty chic interiors for a 633-mile drive from Richmond: it was a finalist for Scotland’s Home of the Year 2025 – via Zoopla

I keep reading that Hollywood is decamping to the Cotswolds from Trump’s America, but that hasn’t stopped this six-bedroom mini-estate in Little Rissington from getting a price cut to £3.5m. A main house is flanked by two annexes – both currently used as holiday rentals – which makes for a supersized 6,000 sq ft in total. There’s an acre of land too. So why hasn’t it sold? It appears to be a new-ish build so you don’t get the dry rot and doormice in the attic true Cotswold charm I suppose. Everything is a bit fancy holiday camp. And some ceilings are low for this price bracket – Harvey Holland

Out of house

The remarkable story of Canary Wharf’s renaissance – Standard

Bridget Jones immortalised in new Leicester Square statue – Guardian

London’s Blackstock Road is one of the world’s 31 coolest streets, allegedly – Time Out

The houses that England built – The Observer

Pocket parks: St Paul’s Church Courtyard, Covent Garden - Ian Visits