"The good news for rail travel between Manchester and London is that a morning train will continue to link the two cities in under two hours. The bad news: [..checks to make sure it's not April 1st..] passengers will no longer be able to get onboard." www.theguardian.com/business/202...

“In a decade, the economy will be just AI & men called Darren with gelled hair who collect 9% of GDP for sending three emails a month. Youngsters are training now by standing in broom closets, clapping their hands and saying ‘this feels like the one!’” www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/work/on...

“We know we were never going to sell it at the price that we bought it at, but it’s kind of embarrassing,”. The real story behind the glossy sales brochures of the London housing market. (£) www.ft.com/content/1822...

Spoiler alert - they won't. When the Valuation Office needed data to check Home Information Packs in 2007 they reportedly paid Rightmove £8m for data on the nations 25m homes. If that didn't work they could just follow the ATED model of self-assessment. (£) www.ft.com/content/7592...

Someone's had fun...

The provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of UK residential transactions from @HMRCgovuk in October 2025 is 116,230, 4% higher than October 2024 and 13% higher than September 2025.

Excellent news! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

So - the Budget wasn't nearly as bad as had been feared. Whilst there was much more the Chancellor could have done (scrap SDLT etc.,) there is a market. We know what things are worth, if you have the ability you can buy & sell but there are still too many who can't do either.

I'll be offering 10% less for £5m houses his evening. #Budget2025

Hang on lads... One property tax that hasn't been suggested for tomorrow's Budget - a window tax! The more windows you have the richer you must be. Can't believe we've not thrashed ourselves like an Opus Dei monk over reports of this speculation in The Telegraph.

📺 Insomnia? Tune in to BBC One after 05.30 when I’ll be looking at what impact a #mansionTax might have on house prices, rents or on transactions? The last 24 hours of speculation, I hope.

The policy is unlikely to be implemented until 2028 at the earliest, until the revaluation of the top three bands has been concluded.” 🙄

After all the fuss what's the betting there isn't actually very much for the housing market in the Budget on Wednesday? No Mansion Tax, no Stamp Duty reform, no Council Tax changes and no change to Capital Gains Tax.

1 x completion. Week 47 - done!

Classic Matt!

I don't sell houses so please don't ask me to. I'm a buying agent. I help a select number of clients to search, evaluate, negotiate and to acquire their next home. Estate agents sell properties but be warned, some are better than others.

Interesting from HM LandRegistry - the distribution of housing transactions in England for Q2 (April to June) 2025. www.gov.uk/government/s...

Average house prices increased to £293,000 (2.0%) in England, £209,000 (2.7%) in Wales and £194,000 (5.3%) in Scotland, in the 12 months to September 2025 says @ONS. [Remember, the 'average' is not necessarily what is happening to prices in your postcode]

Average rents increased to £1,416 (5.0%) in England, £817 (6.7%) in Wales and £1,008 (3.4%) in Scotland, in the 12 months to October 2025. In Northern Ireland, average rents increased to £866 (6.6%), in the 12 months to August 2025.

Provisional numbers from ONS mark average UK monthly private rents increased by 5.0%, to £1,360, in the 12 months to October 2025. Meanwhile average UK house prices increased by 2.6%, to £272,000, in the 12 months to September 2025. www.ons.gov.uk/economy/infl...

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. (£) www.ft.com/content/9ee5...

🪁 Warning - Kites being flown! www.thetimes.com/money/tax/ar...

Ai is coming for my job - apparently. (£) www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

If you want to sell you've got to get real. (£) www.thetimes.com/business-mon...

I'm called all sorts of things but my day job is working as a buying agent. I help people find and secure the right home in London & the South East. If you’re buying, ask me first.

Tip to anyone selling at the moment. "Grab the best offer you can because the biggest agents are pruning their projections". www.mortgagefinancegazette.com/market-news/...

Boom! Landlord has been ordered to repay rent totalling £35,800 after a First-tier Tribunal found he had been running an unlicensed HMO in central London. thenegotiator.co.uk/news/regulat...

📻 Guernsey's latest residential property price bulletin is out and I'm talking to @BBCGuernsey in the morning about the apparent dip in prices & rise in rents. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

11.00am - Armistice Day 2025

Do any other military bands play quite as well as ours? 🇬🇧

Leaseholders in Sheffield (and elsewhere) - can I introduce you to solicitor Andrew Milne. www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/a-london-law...

Bank of England holds interest rates.

Justice/deputy prime minister David Lammy getting a right royal roasting in absentia from Emma Barnett on Today Prog this morning.

Why is your house not selling? Because you priced it based on; What you paid What you need What you spent What Zoopla says What your neighbour asked for his Not what it’s worth. www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/33e5171...

Wow! Will rents ever stop going up? www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

Fear of a Mansion Tax is just the latest iceberg the top end of the housing market is navigating. Stamp Duty I would argue has had a much bigger and very real impact on prices and transaction volumes. www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...

📻Speaking to BBC Hereford & Worcester after 08.30 about the Green Party policy to scrap the Private Rented Sector. Potty or inspired?

Can't afford a buying agent? If you want some help to find a new home or to negotiate the best deal then I have three services starting at £1000 + VAT. henrypryor.com/fees/

“Being a gnarly old dog, I genuinely think that, with the budget, these things come and go. Yes, it might be a little bit unnerving for younger, more inexperienced buyers, but having been around, I think we’ll survive.” #NotMyQuote (£) www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

Week 44 - done!

Market snapshot. According to Nationwide house prices rose slightly last month & according to HMRC transaction volumes rose in September. Is this true everywhere? No. Is this true across the market? No. But are we all f*cked? No. Some certainly are but most are not.

You know how the housing market is supposed to be on it's knees... "The provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of UK residential transactions in September 2025 is 102,420, 8% higher than September 2024 and 2% lower than August 2025" according to HMRC.

“Looking forward, housing affordability is likely to improve modestly if income growth continues to outpace house price growth as we expect" says Nationwide. www.nationwide.co.uk/media/hpi/re...

This Labour government is committed to strengthening the regulation of managing agents to drive up service standards across the industry. I have asked Firstport’s Managing Director to meet with me to discuss the significant concerns raised by MPs of all parties.

📻 On air after 09.00 on @BBCSussex discussing Reigate couples unsalable leasehold home. What's happened to the Leasehold & Freehold Reform Act brought in in May last year? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"We deeply regret the issue caused to our clients as they would have been under the impression that a licence had been applied for." www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...

Letting a house has just got too complicated. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

“You don’t fatten a pig by measuring it.” What’s more important, hitting an arbitrary target or trying to build as many homes as possible?

Just exchanged contracts on a charming home in south west London despite all the talk of 'housing market mayhem'. Two months from instruction. 22nd deal with my old firm Savills.

I've not seen any anything you could describe as 'havoc'. Tough times perhaps for those trying to sell over-priced homes for unrealistic sellers at the very top, but this is the sort of market where we find out who the great agents are and who perhaps are just average.