Stamp duty bills far higher since end of SDLT holiday - claim

Typical stamp duty paid by property purchasers now is actually 84 per cent more than before the pandemic and the SDLT holiday introduced to help the housing market.

In June 2020, just before the holiday was first introduced, the average house price in England was £250,739, with the average cost of stamp duty sitting at £2,537. 

However, the introduction of the stamp duty holiday spurred an enormous surge in buyer demand while supply staid stubbornly low - as a result house prices across England climbed 17 per cent between June 2020 and December 2021, when the scheme finally ended. 

GetAgent - the comparison website which has been undertaking research into stamp duty - says that those looking to purchase in a post-stamp duty holiday market are spending an average £293,339. This means the stamp duty payable on their purchase now sits at £4,667 – an increase of 84 per cent compared to prior to the stamp duty holiday.

The GetAgent research says in Preston the average cost of stamp duty was just £33 prior to the start of the holiday and now sits at £322 - an 881 per cent spike. 

There are other dramatic rises of over 500 per cent in other low-cost housing areas such as Darlington, Barnsley, South Tyneside and Gateshead.

The website says buyers in Kensington & Chelsea face the largest stamp duty bills which have soared £7,223 since the end of the holiday, followed by Islington £6,168, and the City of Westminster £5,980.

GetAgent founder and chief executive Colby Short says: “We now have a comprehensive look at just how house prices were impacted by the stamp duty holiday and while many certainly benefited from the scheme, it’s fair to say that today’s buyers are also considerably worse off as a result.

“The removal of stamp duty tax led to an overwhelming surge in buyer demand and as a result, both the price of a property and the tax payable on its purchase have climbed considerably.

“For the government, this will be touted as an economic success story during an otherwise uncertain time. However, it’s fair to say that those struggling with the even higher cost of homeownership in today’s market are unlikely to share that sentiment.”

Earlier this week HM Revenue & Customs  released figures showing the Treasury enjoying a bumper year for stamp duty, with record receipts - and that’s despite the SDLT holiday.

Stamp duty income for the government in the year to the end of February was £16.9 billion - this is no less than £6.1 billion higher than last year and tops the previous total for the 2017/18 tax year of £16.43 billion.