Homebuyers across the UK are feeling the pinch as stamp duty costs soar, with over £1 billion paid in July alone.
New figures show homebuyers have coughed up £1.2 billion in stamp duty just last month. This brings the total for the year so far to a staggering £6.6 billion – that’s a hefty £100 million more than the same time last year.
These eye-watering figures come from Coventry Building Society, who are urging the Chancellor to rethink the current stamp duty thresholds in the upcoming Autumn Budget.
What does this mean for you?
Right now, if you’re buying a home in England or Northern Ireland, you’ll be hit with stamp duty if the property price tag is over £250,000. But brace yourselves, because in March 2025, this threshold is going down to just £125,000.
This means buying an average-priced home in England will set you back an extra £2,500 in stamp duty alone, jumping from £2,768 to a hefty £5,268.
First-time buyers aren’t exempt from this stamp duty sting either. Currently, they start paying stamp duty on properties over £425,000, but this will drop to £300,000 in 2025.
And don’t forget the extra 3% surcharge lurking in the shadows for anyone buying an additional property!
Calls for change
Jonathan Stinton, at Coventry Building Society, argues that the Treasury is raking it in with these property taxes, leaving homebuyers drowning in debt. He warns that a huge stamp duty bill forces people to borrow even more money just to cover the tax on their property.
Stinton is calling on the Chancellor to use the October Budget as a chance to even the playing field and announce changes that won’t leave average homebuyers facing a £2,500 tax hike overnight.
He believes giving buyers a break on stamp duty won’t break the bank for the Treasury. In fact, he points to the stamp duty holiday back in 2020 and 2021, which proved that tax revenue can remain healthy even when buyers get a helping hand.
And there’s a silver lining for the economy too! Stinton argues that by reducing the stamp duty burden, buyers will have more cash to splash on sprucing up their new homes. This, in turn, will boost the retail and service sectors, meaning more VAT revenue trickles back into the Treasury.