Reeves, formerly a Bank of England economist, will become Britain's first female chancellor. Starmer has announced a number of other cabinet members, including deputy prime minister Angela Rayner as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Reeves' first Budget in her new role will be this autumn, where markets will be watching closely for signs of the government's priorities.
How will Reeves compare to her predecessors on housing?
Following Reeves' appointment, new analysis examined the record of Rachel Reeves’ predecessors as Chancellor.
Jackson-Stops analysed the number of property transactions during different Chancellor’s terms from 1997-2024, which revealed Gordon Brown was homeowners’ favourite Chancellor of the last 27 years. During his tenure as Chancellor Gordon Brown oversaw an average of nearly 96,999 property transactions per month and gained £1,764 per month.
By comparison, the nation’s worst performing Chancellor for homeowners in terms of value alone was Alistair Darling, who witnessed the largest fall in the value of England’s housing market at -8%. But it is Jeremy Hunt who bottoms the charts for transactions with a monthly average of just 37,236, nearly two thirds less than Brown.
Nick Leeming, chairman at Jackson-Stops, commented: "Diminishing terms have meant diminishing returns. The data analysis points to a trend where the shorter the tenure of each Chancellor in power, the lower the value uptick in both property equity and house price appreciation.
“Our analysis indicates that the nation’s Chancellors have got progressively worse at looking after the English housing market in the past three decades. Whilst Gordon Brown's decade as Chancellor of the Exchequer set several records, it was Alistair Darling who witnessed the largest fall in value of England’s housing market, presiding over the Financial Crash.
“It is after that period that we start to see Chancellors tactfully pull on levers to help stimulate economic and housing growth, but not withstanding their own round of criticism in doing so. The legacy of both Help to Buy and the stamp duty holiday created market peaks, and a steep increase in property prices. In June 2021, for instance, we saw house price growth reach 13.4% – its highest for 17 years.
“According to our data, Jeremy Hunt’s time in office produced the lowest number of average monthly property sales in the past 30 years, since records began.”
If you're looking for more election coverage, we've looked at how the decisive Labour victory will impact the housing market here.
