(Image: James Speakman/The Times/PA Wire)
A York estate agent boss has called on Andy Burnham to remove “barriers” stopping people from moving home in the city.
Matthew Hendry, managing director of Naish estate agents, said he would support scrapping stamp duty and reforming council tax – two topics the new prime minister has hinted at addressing previously.
No 10 has denied that the government is considering replacing council tax and stamp duty with a tax based on property or land values, which Mr Burnham supported during his first Labour leadership bid in 2010.
Mr Hendry said he would welcome moves to scrap stamp duty – a tax paid by home buyers on properties or land worth over £125,000, or £300,000 for first time buyers – as it has become one of the barriers hindering the buying process in York.
“If stamp duty was removed,” he said, “I think we'd see far more people deciding to make their move. That would create more homes for buyers, more opportunities for first-time buyers and a healthier market overall.
“A good housing market isn't one where prices simply keep rising. It's one where people can move when life changes.”
Matthew Hendry, managing director of Naish Estate Agents
(Image: Supplied)
Meanwhile, Mr Hendry, said council tax should be reformed to make the “system fairer”.
“A system based on property values from 1991 clearly deserves to be reviewed,” he said. “York has changed enormously since then, and so has its housing market.”
However, Mr Hendry said that “whatever replaces [council tax] also needs to give homeowners confidence”.
Mr Burnham said his government is facing “big decisions” about council tax, and has criticised the unfairness of the current system where some people outside London pay higher rates than those living in the most expensive homes in the capital.
The prime minister acknowledged he needed to stick to the manifesto Labour was elected on in 2024 but said he understood how people felt the current system was disproportionate.
Mr Hendry, speaking after Naish was named York's best letting agent at the 2026 British Property Awards, said the “biggest issue” in York's housing market “isn't demand – it's movement”.
The “desire to move is there” for people living in York, he said, but the demand for property in the city outweighs the number of homes available.
York residents being priced out of home city due to high property prices, estate agent says
Mr Hendry said the heightened demand, combined with fewer properties being available, has pushed up house prices and resulted in York residents being priced out of their home city.
He said he welcomed Mr Burnham’s announcement that his government will oversee “the biggest council house-building programme this country has seen since the Second World War”, using vacant public land to reduce costs.
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It comes as a new study by Lloyds revealed that people living in York’s popular South Bank area, where the average house price is £378,295, could save £135,294 by moving out of the city to Selby.
“York is an incredible place to live,” Mr Hendry said, “but it's becoming increasingly difficult for many local people to afford to stay here.
“It's a conversation we have almost every day. People who've grown up in York are looking at places like Selby, Pocklington, Tadcaster and further afield because it's where they can make the numbers work. That's not because they want to leave York. It's because they feel they have little choice.”