Will Stamp Duty Be Replaced? What the October 2026 Budget Did

What Andy Burnham Actually Said

Speculation had been building that Burnham favoured scrapping Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) in favour of an annual proportional property tax. Asked directly by journalists on 27 July 2026 whether stamp duty would be scrapped at his first Budget (held on 28 October), Burnham said: “Yes, I can say that quite clearly. That won't be happening. It's just not the case that we are bringing forward plans, on that scale, at this moment in time.”

According to a Sky News report on the same afternoon, Burnham seemed exasperated at the source of the speculation, saying that “somebody within 100 yards of [me] could say something, and then all of a sudden it's my policy.” On tax more broadly, he pointed to a different, already-announced change — removing VAT from electricity bills — as an example of the kind of fairness he's pursuing, rather than confirming any specific stamp duty reform.

Speculation vs the Facts

It's worth separating three distinct things that have been reported together:

• Fact: the Budget on Wednesday 28 October 2026 made no change to stamp duty on homes. The government's list of tax rates published with it shows the same rates and first-time buyer relief that have applied since 1 April 2025 (HM Treasury).
• Fact: Burnham had said in July, directly and unambiguously, that stamp duty would not be abolished at this Budget, and it wasn't.
• Fact: Burnham has said he is open to the idea of replacing stamp duty with something else at some point in the future.
• Speculation, not fact: what that replacement would look like, what it would cost different buyers, when it might be introduced, or whether it will happen at all. None of this has been proposed, designed or costed as of 28 October 2026 — the Budget didn't announce it, and Downing Street has called reports that a replacement is being considered “not true”.

Ruling something out for one Budget is not the same as confirming a plan for a future one. Until a specific proposal is published — most likely, if it happens, in a future Budget or a Treasury consultation — there is nothing concrete to plan around.

What a “Proportional Property Tax” Would Mean

A proportional property tax, in the general sense commentators have used the term, is an ongoing charge based on a property's value — closer to a reformed council tax than to SDLT. Stamp duty is different in kind: it's a one-off transaction tax, paid once, within 14 days of completion, calculated in bands on the purchase price. Replacing one with the other would be a structural change to how property is taxed in the UK, not a simple rate adjustment.

No such tax has been drafted, and no detail exists on rates, thresholds, exemptions, or how (or whether) it would apply to people who have already paid stamp duty on their current home. Simon Gerrard, chairman of Martyn Gerrard Estate Agents, argued in the same report that anyone who has already paid stamp duty “should receive an exemption for an amount of time equivalent to what they've already paid” if a new tax is introduced — but that is his suggestion, not a government commitment.

The Real Cost of Waiting: Worked Examples

Whatever happens to future policy, today's stamp duty rules are unchanged. Here's what applies right now in England, based on the current bands (in force since April 2025 and left as they were by the October 2026 Budget):

• First-time buyer, £300,000 property: £0 — the entire price falls within the £300,000 first-time buyer nil-rate band.
• First-time buyer, £400,000 property: £5,000 — 0% on the first £300,000, 5% on the remaining £100,000.
• Home-mover (no first-time buyer relief), £300,000 property: £5,000 — 0% on the first £125,000, 2% on the next £125,000 (£2,500), 5% on the final £50,000 (£2,500).
• Second home or buy-to-let, £300,000 property: £20,000 — the £5,000 standard liability plus a 5% surcharge on the full price (£15,000).

These figures don't change because a future tax is under discussion. What does have a real, quantifiable cost is delaying a purchase on the chance that stamp duty is replaced with something cheaper: continued rent while you wait, a mortgage offer that typically expires 3-6 months after it's issued (meaning you may need to reapply if timelines slip), and the possibility that property prices move — in either direction — in the meantime. None of that is guaranteed to be offset by a tax change that hasn't been designed yet.

Mortgage rates are a cost of waiting too. Average fixed rates rose from about 5.6% at the start of September to 5.98% by 5 October 2026, and the number of fixed deals priced below 5% fell from 1,494 to 9. Rates can move either way while you wait. If your mortgage offer expires, you would reapply at whatever rates apply then, which could be higher or lower.

Run your own numbers on our full stamp duty calculator, which covers England, Wales and Scotland with first-time buyer relief and the additional-property surcharge built in.

Who Might Reasonably Wait — and Who Might Not

This is a factual framing of the trade-off, not advice on what you should do:

• Already mid-transaction (offer accepted, searches underway): delaying to see whether a policy that doesn't exist yet might eventually apply means giving up a known position for an unknown and unscheduled one. The October 2026 Budget made no change.
• Not yet searching, no timing pressure: the Budget has passed without a change, and the PM has only described being “open” to a future change, not committed to one on a timetable. Waiting is not free: house prices and mortgage rates can both move either way while you wait. Your First Home is a new government scheme in England for first-time buyers of new-build homes from developers that sign up to it. You put down a deposit of at least 2.5%, the government lends you 20% of the price as an equity loan that is interest-free for 5 years, and a repayment mortgage covers the rest. Your household income must be £110,000 or less (£140,000 in London), and the home must be under the price cap for its area. The rules were confirmed at the Budget on 28 October 2026; applications are expected to open in February 2027, with the first sales from April 2027. You can't apply yet: pre-registration is due to open by the end of December 2026. See our first-time buyer schemes guide.
• Time-sensitive circumstances (lease ending, relocating for work, growing family): the quantifiable costs of delay — rent, storage, a second move — are certain today, while any change to stamp duty remains hypothetical.

Frequently asked questions

Last updated: 28 October 2026, after the Budget. This page describes political statements and speculation about future tax policy, not confirmed rules. Today's stamp duty rates are unchanged and covered in full on our stamp duty calculator.