{"id":2021,"date":"2025-10-16T15:51:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T14:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/?p=2021"},"modified":"2025-10-16T15:51:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T14:51:43","slug":"green-belt-protection-and-housing-reform-over-stamp-duty-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/london-property-market\/green-belt-protection-and-housing-reform-over-stamp-duty-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Green belt protection and housing delivery trump stamp duty cuts, as voters prioritise long-term housing reform over quick wins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760432327_image_15-300x200.webp\" alt=\"Green belt protection and housing delivery trump stamp duty cuts, as voters prioritise long-term housing reform over quick wins\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2022 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760432327_image_15-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760432327_image_15-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760432327_image_15.webp 900w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/>The latest market insight from London lettings and estate agent, Benham and Reeves, has revealed that public confidence in the Government\u2019s handling of the housing crisis is extremely low, with just 10% of respondents expressing any level of confidence that the right steps are being taken.<\/p>\n<p>The survey, commissioned by Benham and Reeves, asked the UK public to share their views on current housing policy, the priorities they believe the Government should focus on, and whether housing influences their political choices.<\/p>\n<p>The survey found that when it comes to the current Government\u2019s approach to tackling the housing crisis, the public aren\u2019t impressed. 64% expressed they had little to no confidence in the steps being taken by Labour to solve the housing crisis, with just one in 10 expressing support. <\/p>\n<p>When asked which housing policy should be the Government\u2019s top priority, the protection of existing green belt land ranked highest at 29%. This may go someway in explaining a lack of public trust in Labour\u2019s approach given their decision to reclassify areas of green belt into grey belt land for development. <\/p>\n<p>Delivering more new housing stock to meet demand was the second most common choice at 21%, with voters keen to see the imbalance between supply and demand addressed before any further fuel was added to the fire with respect to buyer activity.  <\/p>\n<p>However, the Conservative Party\u2019s recent pledge to scrap stamp duty does resonate with voters to an extent, as removing or reducing the tax ranked third in the list of housing policy priorities at 19%.<\/p>\n<p>The research also shows that 64% of respondents consider housing policy to be an influential factor in determining who they vote for, while 42% said they would be more likely to vote for a party that aligns with their preferred housing policies, even if they were not previously aligned with that party, with a further 33% remaining undecided.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Marc von Grundherr, Director of Benham and Reeves, commented:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cConfidence in the current Labour Government\u2019s approach to housing is at rock bottom, but while the Conservatives\u2019 pledge to scrap stamp duty may sound appealing on the surface, voters are clearly more concerned about the long-term issues affecting supply, sustainability and affordability.<\/p>\n<p>Protecting the green belt and delivering more homes are seen as more pressing priorities than policies designed to stimulate short-term market activity.<\/p>\n<p>Housing remains one of the defining issues for millions of households across the country, and as this research shows, it will be a key battleground for voter support in the months ahead. However, quick-fix pledges designed to grab headlines won\u2019t be enough to win back confidence unless they\u2019re accompanied by genuine progress on housing delivery.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"table-responsive mb20\">\n<table class=\"press-table textfLeft table-fixed font-12\" border=\"1\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"bg-table-blue\">\n<th colspan=\"2\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n              Overall, how confident are you that the current Government is taking the right steps to address the UK\u2019s housing challenges?\n            <\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"bg-table-blue\">\n<th style=\"text-align:left;\" width=\"75%\">Answer<\/th>\n<th>Respondents<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Not at all confident<\/td>\n<td>36%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Not very confident<\/td>\n<td>27%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Neutral<\/td>\n<td>26%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Somewhat confident<\/td>\n<td>9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Very confident<\/td>\n<td>1%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<div class=\"table-responsive mb20\">\n<table class=\"press-table textfLeft table-fixed font-12\" border=\"1\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"bg-table-blue\">\n<th colspan=\"2\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n             Which of the following housing policies do you believe should be the Government\u2019s top priority? (Select one)\n            <\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"bg-table-blue\">\n<th style=\"text-align:left;\" width=\"75%\">Answer<\/th>\n<th>Respondents<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Protecting existing green belt land from development<\/td>\n<td>29%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Delivering more new housing stock to meet demand<\/td>\n<td>21%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Removing or reducing stamp duty to make homebuying more affordable<\/td>\n<td>19%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Building more homes on brownfield sites<\/td>\n<td>14%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Reforming and strengthening protections for leaseholders<\/td>\n<td>6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Introducing greater tax incentives for first-time buyers<\/td>\n<td>5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Creating new towns and large-scale developments<\/td>\n<td>4%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Reclassifying poor-quality green belt as \u2018grey belt\u2019 to allow limited development<\/td>\n<td>3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<div class=\"table-responsive mb20\">\n<table class=\"press-table textfLeft table-fixed font-12\" border=\"1\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"bg-table-blue\">\n<th colspan=\"2\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n             Is housing market policy influential when it comes to deciding who you vote for?\n            <\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"bg-table-blue\">\n<th style=\"text-align:left;\" width=\"75%\">Answer<\/th>\n<th>Respondents<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<td>64%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>No<\/td>\n<td>36%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<div class=\"table-responsive mb20\">\n<table class=\"press-table textfLeft table-fixed font-12\" border=\"1\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"bg-table-blue\">\n<th colspan=\"2\" style=\"text-align:left;\">\n             If a general election were called early next year, would you be more likely to vote for a party that represents your preferred housing policies even if you weren&#8217;t previously alligned with that part?\n            <\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"bg-table-blue\">\n<th style=\"text-align:left;\" width=\"75%\">Answer<\/th>\n<th>Respondents<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Yes<\/td>\n<td>42%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Undecided<\/td>\n<td>33%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>No<\/td>\n<td>25%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top:10px; font-size:12px; font-style:italic;\" class=\"mb20\">\n    Survey of 1,.024 UK general population carried out by ProperPR on behalf of Benham and Reeves via consumer research platform Find Out Now (9th October 2025).\n  <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The latest market insight from London lettings and estate agent, Benham and Reeves, has revealed that public confidence in the Government\u2019s handling of the housing crisis is extremely low, with just 10% of respondents expressing any level of confidence that the right steps are being taken. The survey, commissioned by Benham and Reeves, asked the &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/london-property-market\/green-belt-protection-and-housing-reform-over-stamp-duty-cuts\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Green belt protection and housing delivery trump stamp duty cuts, as voters prioritise long-term housing reform over quick wins&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[463],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-london-property-market"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2023,"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021\/revisions\/2023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benhams.com\/press-release\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}