My ISA savings have dropped - I won't be able to buy the house I want (2025)

A saver is “worried” he won’t be able to buy a house this year because the value of his stocks and shares ISA has plummeted since Donald Trump introduced his global tariffs.

Jonathan Barrett, 31, opened an account with Nutmeg in March 2022 because he wanted higher returns than a standard interest account – something important to him as he’s saving up for his own place.

But Mr Barrett, who is a software engineer, said: “I am worried I won’t be able to get a house this year because of the sharp downturn. I definitely will have to look to save more and for longer to get a house in my price range.”

He has seen the value of his savings drop by more than £1,000 – a 5 per cent drop – since 2 April, when the US President announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs sending stock markets around the world tumbling.

Since 3 March, he has seen the value fall by 7 per cent roughly, equating to £1,500.

‘It’s like being stuck on the downward part of a rollercoaster’ – Jonathan Barrett

Trump has been putting tariffs on goods imported from the rest of the world, with higher rates on countries with a larger trade deficit with the US.

The latest round of tariffs, including a retaliatory 104 per cent rate on China, has sent stocks into chaos this week.

London’s FTSE 100 dropped to its lowest level in more than a year when markets closed on Monday. Meanwhile, the US S&P 500 has had more than 10 per cent of its value wiped out over the past few days.

Mr Barrett said: “I’m worried about the wider economic landscape and the stability of the housing market as an unstable stock market leads to other markets having turmoil.

“I’ve started to look at potentially having to buy a cheaper house now, mostly because I don’t want to have a massive amount of negative equity that I won’t be able to afford to get out of.

“I am likely to also have to delay purchasing to understand how the housing market and mortgage market are going to be reacting to the stock [market] crash.”

He said he is a lot more cautious with his savings now, and he said he isn’t prepared to put anymore money into his stocks and shares ISA until there is more stability.

Mr Barrett added: “Because of the timing of the tariff implementation being during the tax year turnover in the UK, I’ve not been able to react to the tariffs and the market, as if I transfer the ISA to a lifetime ISA, I can’t contribute because of the new tax year.

“I can’t contribute to my current one yet either because of the tax year, so, it’s like being stuck on the downward part of a rollercoaster.”

He is not alone.

Tabitha Steemson, 26, said she has lost £3,000 in her stocks and shares ISA in the past few months – £1,000 of which since Trump’s “liberation day” announcement last week.

Ms Steemson, who works at a communications consultancy in London, said this has affected how much she has saved for a house deposit.

She said: “I wanted to invest my money as it felt like the ‘sensible’ thing to do so I opened a Trading212 account in October last year.

“But now, my savings have fallen by 15 per cent. I felt quite stressed and annoyed when I first saw it going down – although I assumed it would bounce back.

“When I first invested the market was very strong, and I assumed (as I know a lot of people did) that they would continue to do well.

“I had no expectation of such a downturn, and now I’ve realised that money is effectively lost for what I expect will be a good while.

“I feel pretty miserable, and wish I never invested. I had no idea it was such a bad time to buy when I did, and I regret doing it.”

The money in her stocks and shares ISA was a “pretty sizeable chunk” of what she has to use towards a house deposit.

If the value of her savings keeps going down, this will have a knock-on impact on when and how much she can put down towards a house, she said.

She added: “If I do buy, it’s likely to be with my boyfriend – and I know his savings have also, obviously, taken a hit.

“I would definitely not buy until the markets start to restore a bit, and I imagine this might take quite a long time – so it might have delayed buying by a couple of years at least.

“It’s a massive shame to me, I’ve worked hard and want to get off the rental market soon, but I don’t think with the hit that my savings have taken, I’ll be able to do that in the next two years or so as I planned.

“It’s now looking like it will be longer – and that’s obviously really disappointing.”

It comes amid concerns that cash ISAs will see their allowances cut significantly later in 2025, with rumours suggesting the Chancellor Rachel Reeves will cut the existing £20,000 yearly limit to as little as £4,000 in order to encourage more people to invest.