The Autumn Budget delivered the expected changes to housing and taxation, although the impact will be felt more in sentiment than in immediate cost.

The Chancellor’s Autumn Budget has finally arrived after months of rumour, leaked ideas and speculation. Many households in Shepperton had braced themselves for a sweeping new annual tax on homes above £500,000. That proposal has now been dropped, which removes the biggest cloud that had been hanging over the local market.

If you listened to the doom merchants, you would think first-time buyers (FTB) in Shepperton had no chance at all. According to the loudest voices, buying a first home is impossible, the ladder has been pulled up, and the only people who buy their first homes today are lottery winners or those with wealthy parents.

The new annual surcharge on homes over £2m has been positioned as a targeted, progressive measure, yet this is overwhelmingly a London and South East tax. Outside those areas, the proportion of £2m homes barely registers.