Will Andy Burnham scrap stamp duty and council tax?

Not yet, and not confirmed. Andy Burnham's team is reportedly examining a proposal from the cross-party Fairer Share campaign that would replace council tax and Stamp Duty Land Tax with a single annual charge of 0.48% of a property's value (0.96% for second homes, empty properties and overseas-owned homes), and Burnham has previously described council tax as "highly regressive" and backed a land value tax in principle. But this is a proposal being looked at by an incoming prime minister's team, not a government policy, a draft bill or anything close to legislation. Nothing about how you're taxed on buying, selling or owning a home has actually changed. If you're weighing up a purchase or sale, budget for today's confirmed Stamp Duty and council tax rules rather than a plan that may take years to go anywhere, if it goes anywhere at all.

How long does it really take to save a house deposit in the UK in 2026?

On average, 9.5 years. Research from Reallymoving published on 13 July 2026 found that a solo first-time buyer saving 10% of their monthly income would take around 113 months to raise a £27,315 deposit on a typical £250,000 first home, based on an average first-time buyer salary of £39,298, once conveyancing, survey and removal costs are added in. That average hides a huge regional gap: as long as 13 years to save £47,692 in the most expensive areas, against 6 years and 7 months to save £16,763 in the North East. If you're saving alone in a higher-priced region, relying on income growth alone is not a realistic plan; a smaller starter purchase, family help with the deposit, or a low-deposit mortgage product are all far more likely to shorten that wait than a plausible pay rise.

Is the Lifetime ISA being scrapped?

It's being replaced, not scrapped overnight. The government launched a consultation on 23 June 2026 confirming plans to replace the Lifetime ISA with a new First-Time Buyer ISA from around April 2028. The new scheme drops the LISA's retirement-saving option and focuses purely on a first home, pays the government bonus when you actually complete on a purchase rather than into the account as you save, and is expected to have no upper age limit, unlike the LISA's cut-off at 40 for new savers. If you already hold a Lifetime ISA, there's no cut-off date and nothing to do differently right now: keep contributing as normal and treat the 2028 changeover as something to plan around nearer the time, not a reason to stop saving today.

UK housing roundup: Burnham's £4,800 tax, 9.5-year wait

Q: Will the Bank of England cut interest rates on 30 July 2026?

Markets think a hold is far more likely than a cut or a hike. Bank Rate has sat at 3.75% since the 18 June 2026 decision, a 7-2 vote to hold, and SONIA futures currently price only around a 14% chance of a rate change at the 30 July meeting versus an 86% chance of another hold, according to a Reuters economist poll from mid-July 2026. The complication is that the Bank's own chief economist, one of the two members who voted for a hike in June, has said publicly that rates will probably need to rise over the coming year given services inflation is still running at 3.7%. Don't wait for a Bank Rate cut before making a purchase or remortgage decision: fixed mortgage rates are already priced off swap rates rather than Bank Rate itself, and they've been falling independently of what the Bank does at its meetings.

If you spent this week half-watching the news for anything that might change your mortgage, your tax bill or your chances of ever buying a first home, you'll have come away with more headlines than answers. A new prime minister moves into Downing Street tomorrow with a property tax idea already attached to his name, fresh research says a solo first-time buyer now needs the best part of a decade just to save a deposit, and the scheme replacing the Lifetime ISA finally has a shape. None of it is settled law. All of it changes the maths you're doing right now.

The single biggest story this week isn't a price movement at all, it's who becomes prime minister on Monday and what he's already said about how homeowners are taxed. Here's what actually happened over the past seven days, and what each story means for you.

A new prime minister, and a £4,800 property tax idea, arrive on the same day

Andy Burnham becomes UK prime minister on Monday 20 July 2026, taking over from Keir Starmer after winning the Labour leadership on 17 July with the highest share of MP nominations ever recorded in a modern Labour contest (Al Jazeera, CBS News, 15-17 July 2026). His team is reportedly examining a proposal from the cross-party Fairer Share campaign that would scrap council tax and Stamp Duty Land Tax entirely and replace both with a single annual charge of 0.48% of a property's value, rising to 0.96% for second homes, empty properties and overseas-owned homes (HomeOwners Alliance, Chartered Institute of Taxation, July 2026).

On a typical £300,000 home, that works out at an annual bill of roughly £1,440. Fairer Share's own modelling claims 77% of UK households, around 18 million people, would pay less overall, with an average saving of £556 a year, but the average London homeowner would pay about £260 a year more, and London as a whole would contribute roughly £2.5bn more nationally (Fairer Share campaign proposal, cited via Chartered Institute of Taxation and HomeOwners Alliance, July 2026). Burnham has long called council tax "highly regressive" and has backed a land value tax in principle for years, but nothing here has been adopted as government policy, let alone put before Parliament.

So if you own a typically-priced home outside London, Fairer Share's own figures suggest you would probably come out ahead if this proposal were ever adopted, but with nothing legislated and property tax reform in the UK historically taking years to move from idea to law, budget for today's confirmed Stamp Duty and council tax bills, not a plan that only exists as something a new prime minister's team is examining.

Solo first-time buyers now need 9.5 years to save a deposit, and where you live decides how bad it is

Research from home-moving comparison site Reallymoving, published 13 July 2026, found that a first-time buyer saving alone and putting away 10% of their monthly income would take an average of 113 months, just over 9.5 years, to raise a £27,315 deposit on a typical £250,000 first home, on an average first-time buyer salary of £39,298, once conveyancing (£1,421), a survey (£462) and removals (£432) are added on top. The regional spread is stark: as long as 13 years to save the £47,692 deposit needed in the most expensive areas, against 6 years and 7 months to save £16,763 in the North East (Reallymoving, 13 July 2026).

Separately, the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) used this week's change of prime minister to renew its call for urgent government action, estimating around 3.5 million households remain locked out of homeownership altogether. The average first-time buyer is now 34, and 53% buy a three-bedroom home outright rather than a smaller starter property, a shift that pushes the typical deposit target higher still (Reallymoving, IMLA, July 2026).

So if you're saving for a deposit alone outside the cheaper regions, the maths says a plausible pay rise won't get you there in a reasonable timeframe: family help, a smaller first purchase, or one of the low-deposit mortgage options we've covered before are all more likely to cut years off that wait than saving alone on income growth.

The Lifetime ISA is being replaced, and the bonus timing is changing

The government opened a consultation on 23 June 2026 confirming plans to replace the Lifetime ISA with a new First-Time Buyer ISA from around April 2028. The new account drops the LISA's retirement-saving option entirely and focuses solely on a first home purchase. The biggest practical change is timing: the government bonus would be paid out when you actually complete on a home, rather than added into your account as you save, which removes the need for the current 25% penalty if you withdraw for anything other than a first home. The new scheme is also expected to have no upper age limit, unlike the Lifetime ISA's cut-off of 40 for new savers (GOV.UK consultation, Treasury, June-July 2026).

Existing Lifetime ISA holders aren't affected today. There's no announced cut-off for using the current scheme, and you can keep contributing as normal while the new account is finalised.

So if you already hold a Lifetime ISA, there's nothing to change right now: keep contributing as normal, and treat the 2028 switchover as a genuinely reader-friendly improvement to plan around nearer the time, not a reason to pause saving today.

Average mortgage rates keep falling, but the gap to the best deal is still worth chasing

Average 2-year and 5-year fixed mortgage rates both fell to 5.52% by 13 July 2026, the sharpest monthly drop since October 2024, with 90% loan-to-value product choice topping 900 deals for the first time since early March 2026 (Moneyfacts, 13 July 2026). But the average rate is still far from the best one on the table: Nationwide's 4.24% 2-year fix (fee £1,014) and Halifax's 4.17% 5-year fix at 60% loan-to-value (fee £1,099) both sit well over a full percentage point below those averages (HomeOwners Alliance / Mortgage Advice Bureau, 12 July 2026). On a typical £250,000 repayment mortgage over 25 years, moving from the 5.52% average rate to the 4.24% best-buy 2-year deal is worth roughly £186 a month.

So if your current deal is anywhere near the average rate, whether your fix just ended or you've drifted onto a lender's standard variable rate, re-shopping the whole market rather than accepting a retention offer is worth close to £186 a month on a typical mortgage, a gap too large to leave sitting on the table.

Bank Rate holds at 3.75%, but the Bank's own chief economist says it may need to rise

Bank Rate has been unchanged at 3.75% since the 18 June 2026 decision, a 7-2 vote to hold, with the next MPC decision due 30 July 2026 (Bank of England, 18 June 2026). Yet the Bank's chief economist, one of the two members who voted for a hike in June, has said publicly that rates will probably need to rise over the coming year, with services inflation still running at 3.7%. Markets aren't convinced a move is imminent: SONIA futures currently price only around a 14% chance of a rate rise at the 30 July meeting against an 86% chance of another hold (Reuters economist poll, mid-July 2026). Fixed mortgage rates, as covered above, are moving independently of Bank Rate anyway, priced off swap rates rather than the base rate itself.

So don't expect a Bank Rate move on 30 July, but do note that a genuine split at the top of the Bank of England means the multi-year direction of rates is less settled than an 86% hold probability makes it sound, and betting heavily on further falls from here is a bigger gamble than the recent run of cheaper fixed deals might suggest.

The week's numbers, in one place:

Proposed property tax (Fairer Share, examined by Burnham's team): 0.48% of value for a main home, 0.96% for second homes/empty/overseas · Solo first-time buyer deposit wait: 9.5 years average, 6.6 to 13 years by region (Reallymoving, 13 July 2026) · First-Time Buyer ISA replacing the Lifetime ISA from around April 2028 · Average fixed mortgage rate: 5.52% (2yr and 5yr, Moneyfacts, 13 July 2026) · Best buys: 4.24% (2yr, Nationwide) / 4.17% (5yr, Halifax, 60% LTV) · Bank Rate: 3.75%, held, next decision 30 July 2026.

What this means for you

Pulling this week together, the maths points toward acting on what's confirmed rather than what's proposed. A property tax that only exists as an idea Burnham's team is examining, and an ISA that doesn't launch until 2028, aren't reasons to change what you do with your mortgage or your deposit savings this month. What is actionable right now is the near-£186-a-month gap between the average mortgage rate and the best deal on the market, plus the reminder that a genuine split inside the Bank of England makes betting heavily on further rate cuts riskier than it looks.

Frankly, if you're within six months of your fix ending, or your income and outgoings can stretch to it, locking in one of this week's best-buy deals rather than waiting for political clarity is the more reliable move. The confirmed numbers in front of you are moving faster than any of this week's bigger political and policy stories are likely to resolve.