84% of agents fear Autumn Budget anti-climax
Agents welcome first-time buyer support but 84% fear Autumn Budget housing anti-climax
The latest industry insight from GetAgent.co.uk has revealed that estate agents believe first-time buyers are most in need of government support and, while the recent announcement of a new first-time buyer scheme will likely be welcomed by the industry, 84% are sceptical as to whether the Autumn Budget will deliver meaningful support for the wider property market.
The survey of UK estate agents, commissioned by GetAgent ahead of the Government’s recent first-time buyer announcement, looked at how the property market has performed so far in 2026, how effective agents believe government intervention has been, which groups they feel are most in need of support and whether they expect housing to be a meaningful focus of the Autumn Budget.
The research shows that more than half of agents (56%) believe the UK property market has performed weaker than they expected so far in 2026. A further 37% believe performance has been broadly in line with expectations, while just 7% believe the market has performed more strongly than anticipated.
There is also considerable dissatisfaction with the impact of government measures and reforms introduced so far. Some 58% of agents believe they have been ineffective in improving the health of the UK property market, while just 12% believe they have been effective.
With the market failing to live up to expectations for many, more than two-thirds of agents (68%) believe it now requires a more meaningful government-led ‘shot in the arm’ to stimulate activity.
When asked which group is most in need of government support within the current market, first-time buyers ranked comfortably top.
Two in five agents (40%) identified first-time buyers as most in need of help, ahead of landlords and property investors at 29%, existing homeowners looking to move at 14% and tenants at 10%.
However, some 84% stated that they were not confident the property market would be a meaningful focus of this month’s Autumn Budget, with many expecting yet another anti-climax.
Since GetAgent conducted its survey, the Government has announced Your First Home, a new equity loan scheme aimed at helping first-time buyers in England purchase a new-build home.
The scheme is expected to enable eligible first-time buyers to purchase from participating developers with a deposit of just 2.5%, supported by a government-backed equity loan worth 20% of the property’s value, demonstrating that the property market will at least feature in the Autumn Budget.
So the good news is that the property industry looks set to feature, but the question is whether this will be enough to provide a meaningful boost to the wider market, or whether the Government’s involvement will be confined to a first-time buyer scheme alone.
Colby Short, Co-founder and CEO of GetAgent, commented:
“The announcement of further support for first-time buyers is certainly notable and, based on what agents told us before the news broke, the Government has identified the area of the market where support is most needed.
However, agents clearly believe more needs to be done to stimulate the wider market, particularly after a year that has performed below expectations for many. So, there will be hope that first-time buyer support isn’t the only meaningful hand offered to the property market this time around.
The industry will now be watching closely to see whether the Autumn Budget delivers a broader commitment to improving market health, or whether it ultimately proves to be the anti-climax that so many agents expect.”
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