The Daily Mail's Mark Palmer reports on Britain's "unsellable homes" crisis, illustrated by Kate Williams, a 67-year-old widow trying to sell her five-bedroom detached house near Stamford on the Northamptonshire/Lincolnshire border. After her husband's death from dementia earlier this year, she wants to downsize to travel and be closer to her five grandchildren, but has found no buyers despite repeated price cuts, which she blames on government economic mismanagement and uncertainty over new property taxes.

The house, valued at £1.15–1.2million before her husband's death, was listed at £1million in early May but attracted no interest; a cut to £950,000 produced just one viewing, prompting a further reduction this week to £900,000. Williams points to fears over the incoming "mansion tax", set to take effect from April 2028 with annual charges of £2,500 to £7,500 on homes worth over £2million (with speculation the threshold could fall to £1.5million), as well as broader uncertainty about Andy Burnham's plans to reform property taxation, including a possible land value tax to replace stamp duty. The Prime Minister has ruled out an overhaul of property taxes in the Budget due on 28 October, though the Institute for Fiscal Studies has criticised stamp duty as one of the most economically damaging taxes.