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Post updated: July 9th, 2026
KEY INFORMATION
Andy Burnham has proposed reforming council tax and previously backed replacing stamp duty with a different property tax model. He has also pledged the biggest council house building programme since the Second World War and has called for tougher standards in the private rented sector.
Andy Burnham said he wanted a “reform of council tax” at his by-election campaign launch, calling the current system “highly regressive” and its 1991-based valuations “not justifiable”.
Any future reform could include:
According to The Times, Andy Burnham is said to be a fan of a proposal put forward by the campaign group Fairer Share, which wants to replace stamp duty and council tax with an annual property tax equivalent to 0.48% of a home’s value.
One of the arguments against this made by critics is that the current council tax system has bands setting the least and most someone may pay, while this new system would have no upper limit.
Many second homeowners and owners of empty properties already pay a higher rate of council tax. Under these proposals, an annual property tax equivalent to 0.96% of a home’s value would apply. This would also apply to homes owned by overseas buyers.
Andy Burnham has also previously explored the idea of stamp duty reform and wrote in The Guardian about replacing stamp duty on property sales with a land value tax.
For homeowners, buyers and movers, any reforms to property tax could have significant implications for moving costs and housing market activity.
However, no detailed proposals have been published and significant reform would undoubtedly be politically contentious. We’ll update this page as new policies are announced. Sign up to our free newsletter and we’ll explain what the latest housing policy announcements could mean for homeowners, buyers and movers.
An estimated 150,000 more households could have to pay the ‘mansion tax’ if Andy Burnham comes prime minister, according to reports.
The mansion tax, officially called the High Value Council Tax Surcharge, will apply to homeowners with properties valued at more than £2 million in 2026, and be collected alongside council tax from April 2028.
However, the Mail on Sunday has reported that if Andy Burnham becomes the new Labour leader, he could potentially lower the threshold at which people start to pay it from £2 million to £1.5 million. Read more in our guide UK property tax changes 2026: How the “Mansion Tax” will work.
Mortgage rates are not set by politicians, but political and economic uncertainty can influence financial markets, which in turn affects borrowing costs.
Analysts say investors will look closely at any future fiscal plans, particularly if they involve significant borrowing or major tax reform.
Large policy shifts can create uncertainty, which may feed through to mortgage markets. This could influence mortgage rates but it’s too early to predict whether mortgage rates would rise or fall.
Our Mortgage Expert Sarah Tucker said:
“The disruption from the Prime Minister resigning is starting to have an effect on the swap rate market, and we don’t yet know whether that’s going to be positive or negative.
If you’ve got a remortgage coming up, lock in your rate six months early and keep it under review. Your adviser should be able to offer that for you – it’s called a price match.“
If you’re remortgaging soon, don’t wait to review your options. You can lock in a rate, then keep it under review in case rates fall before you need to switch. Get fee-free mortgage advice from the award-winning expert advisers at Mortgage Advice Bureau.
Get fee-free mortgage advice from the award-winning expert advisers at Mortgage Advice Bureau.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
Please note some branches of Mortgage Advice Bureau may charge a fee for mortgage advice if you go direct. The fee is up to 1% but a typical fee is 0.3% of the amount borrowed. So make sure you use this site, this form or phone number for fee-free advice.
Whenever there is speculation about a new Prime Minister or major political change, housing markets often enter a wait-and-see period. This could result in:
While uncertainty may not necessarily lead to falling house prices, it can reduce market activity in the short-term while people assess the direction of future policy.
One of the most high-profile of Andy Burnham’s potential policies is that he wants “the biggest programme of council house building since the Second World War”.
In a speech on 29 June, he said that housing should be at the centre of Government policy, and that “everything starts with a good home. “This country finally has to put that at the top of its priority list,” he said.
In terms of how Andy Burnham’s potential policy on council housing would be paid for, he suggested this could be funded by diverting the existing £39bn affordable housing programme entirely to social rent homes.
If this does happen, it could have significant implications for affordable housing schemes such as shared ownership. Again, we await any further details of how this could be implemented.
Andy Burnham has also pledged to bring “higher density residential development to our towns”, helping to increase footfall on high streets while protecting more green space from development.
As mayor of Manchester, which is now the fastest-growing major urban economy in the UK, Andy Burnham secured a devolution deal under the Conservatives in 2023 and pledged to use devolved funding to build 10,000 homes across Greater Manchester and later to buy up empty homes and use them to get families experiencing homelessness out of temporary accommodation, reports the i Paper.
Also, on his watch, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority controversially agreed to give a private developer a £50m loan from the Good Growth Fund to aid the completion of a luxury skyscraper, which includes 133 homes for social rent.
In terms of housebuilding under his leadership, between 2024 and 2025, 3,864 new homes were built in Manchester, an increase of 28% from the previous year.
As of 2025, there were around 12,000 homes under construction and another 7,500 with planning permission. Also, in 2024-25, 99.8% of homes completed were on brownfield land, and over 80% were close to public transport.
At this stage, Andy Burnham’s potential policies remain proposals or broad ideas rather than firm commitments.
But if you own a home, are planning to buy, or are considering moving, you will naturally want to stay up to date with any proposed changes that could affect the cost of buying and owning a home.
We will update this page, as well as our pages on mortgage rate predictions and council tax.
However, while it’s understandable to be concerned about how things may change in the future, for homeowners and buyers, the most important thing is to focus on the decisions that suit your personal circumstances.
Paula Higgins, CEO of HomeOwners Alliance, said: “We’re keen to see what changes will come with a new Prime Minister and how they will help aspiring first time buyers, home movers and older homeowners achieve their housing needs.
Social housing, privately rented and privately owned homes all play their part in a healthy housing market. And a healthy housing market is good for the economy.”
“We’d love to see homeownership for first-time buyers treated as an equally important target alongside an increase in social housing.
“Our research found that for many young people today, homeownership has become an impossible dream. 1.9 million aspiring homeowners do not think they will follow in the footsteps of their home owning parents.
“We also know from our Scrap Stamp Duty Campaign that in its current format, stamp duty puts off families from moving up the property ladder, fleeces homeowners needing to make a sideways move and makes it more expensive for older generations to downsize. So we have our fingers crossed Andy Burnham can scrap the tax.
No. Council tax has not changed. Andy Burnham has said he supports reforming council tax, but he is not yet Prime Minister and no Government proposals or legislation have been announced.
No. Stamp duty has not changed. Andy Burnham has previously supported reforming property taxes, but there are currently no confirmed plans or legislation to abolish stamp duty.
Andy Burnham has called for council tax reform and is reported to support replacing council tax and stamp duty with a new annual property tax. However, no official Government proposal or detailed policy has been published.
It’s impossible to say. No detailed proposals have been published, so it’s not known how much homeowners would pay or who would be better or worse off under any future property tax system.
July 9, 2026
July 9, 2026
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June 23, 2026 
