'I don't live in a mansion' Affluent Richmond resigned to property tax

In the leafy London borough of Richmond, on the southwestern fringes of the capital, there was quiet resignation at the chancellor’s announcement of a “mansion tax” on England’s most expensive properties.

- Joanna Partridge

In an area where one-bed flats often sell for £300,000, and large, detached family homes regularly bring in upwards of £2m, “mansion” is seen as something of a misnomer. “It’s laughable,” said Nick Miller, whose five-bedroom family home is on the market for £2m. “I don’t live in a mansion, it’s a 1930s house.”

Boasting the largest of the capital’s royal parks, highly rated schools and quick transport connections to the city, Richmond has long been a popular base for well-heeled Londoners.

The constituency of Richmond Park - which includes parts of Barnes, Kew, East Sheen and Richmond-on-Thames - is likely to be among the places most affected by Rachel Reeves's property tax changes announced in the budget.

Houses worth £2m or over accounted for 6.4% of sales in Richmond-upon-Thames over the past five years, according to Land Registry sales data, equivalent to almost one in 15 transactions.

"In Richmond £2m to £2.5m gets you a lovely house, but not a mansion by any means," said Rory Clarke, senior sales consultant at the local Hamptons estate agents.

"The [new regime] isn't ideal but shouldn't impact someone owning a home at that level too much. I wouldn't have thought it would cause an issue in the housing market in Richmond." Yesterday Rachel Reeves revealed that from April 2028, owners of properties in England valued at £2m and over in 2026 will be required to pay an annual high value council tax surcharge on top of existing council tax.