UK's Priciest Properties: Sales Plummet Ahead of Budget

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00:00Now, to the UK, where sales of UK homes worth at least £2 million plunged 13.13, 13% in October, year on year.

00:10It's the sharpest drop in 2025, this according to data from property website Rightmove.

00:15The moves and the numbers come as speculation builds, of course, about the introduction of a mansion tax,

00:21a so-called mansion tax on high-value properties, in next week's budget.

00:25Let's bring in Bloomberg's Kit Reese then for the details on this.

00:28So, Kit, just put us into context, 13% drop in terms of the monthly numbers out of Rightmove.

00:34How significant, how much pain are we seeing at the top end of the housing market in the UK?

00:37Well, we're seeing quite a lot of pain, to be honest.

00:39There's a lot of caution in the market, and this is especially true in London,

00:43given in the capital there's a high amount of very expensive homes,

00:47and it also adds to growing evidence of a sort of cooling.

00:50So our colleagues have previously reported, as an example,

00:53that one luxury apartment was sold at a 50% discount.

00:56Wow.

00:56So, yeah, there's a lot of pain, there's a lot of caution.

01:00So as we saw last week, it's very important for Chancellor Rachel Reeves to keep MPs on side,

01:05and that's what we saw with the U-turn on the planned increase in income tax hikes.

01:09So it's politically more palatable to tax wealthier individuals.

01:13So this is what we're seeing with the mansion house tax that's been reported

01:16as one of the measures that she is considering.

01:18Also, another measure is a charge on wealthy individuals exiting the UK.

01:25So taken all together, this isn't surprising that there's a lot of pain at the top end of the market, especially.

01:31But it's also been widespread, and it's something that we've seen all year.

01:34But with a budget just next week, it's looking particularly sort of nervy.

01:38OK, so the budget is a major factor in this story.

01:41And you talked about the broader market.

01:43What is happening?

01:45This is not isolated just to the tippy-top of the UK market.

01:48This is a broader phenomenon as well in terms of lower prices.

01:51Yes, definitely.

01:52So the right move data also showed that there's been a broader slowdown.

01:56And it's something that we've seen in it all year.

01:58We had higher stamp duty charges which have hit buyers.

02:02They're dealing with a cost-of-living crisis which squeezes affordability.

02:06And, of course, with the budget, there's lots of nerves over what taxes could be introduced.

02:10We're going to get higher taxes.

02:11So it's kind of keeping sellers, you know, they're not sure whether to sell now or sell later.

02:16Buyers also not really sure whether to, you know, go now or go later too.

02:20So overall, there's just a lot of caution.

02:22There's caution over interest rates as well.

02:24We don't know what's going to happen with the Bank of England.

02:27And interest rates are quite high in the UK compared with other places.

02:30So overall, it shows that there's a lot of caution.

02:33There's a lot of uncertainty.

02:34And this is being played out in the UK housing market.

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