Around £5.1 billion – that’s the amount buyers in England paid collectively in Stamp Duty over the past year. 

It sounds a lot but it has saved those moving home a total of £3.6 million according to calculations by Hamptons estate agency.

Now that the deadline to save up to £15,000 in Stamp Duty fees is past, the most buyers can now save is an extra £2,500 – but only if they buy prior to October 1. After that Stamp Duty tax in England returns to its standard £125,000 tax-free rate.

It also means the average stamp duty payment has jumped from £3,242 last month to £6,920 today.

Stamp Duty easing – expensive areas hit hardest

Worst affected by the easing of the Stamp Duty Holiday, are those looking to buy in the more expensive areas, especially in the City of London where stamp duty has jumped by around £34,000 to £46,441 for the average bill. In Hull (one of the lowest house price areas), the standard Stamp Duty bill has only gone up by £110 – from £74 to £184.

A survey carried out this week by Moneysupermarket.com showed there will be no let-up in momentum for the property market over the next few months. That’s because one third of respondents said they were keen to get their purchase pushed through before October.

House price increase cancels out Stamp Duty saving

This is despite the fact that the opposition Housing secretary insists that it is the Stamp Duty cuts building momentum which has pushed prices up. Lucy Powell insists buyers have actually lost out because although buyers saved an average of £3,419, house prices rose by an average £21,956 within the past year.

She accused Rishi Sunak of “turbo-charging an already buoyant housing market”, insisting there was already pent up demand prior to the introduction of the stamp duty holiday.

This means first-time buyers who were already finding it difficult to save for a deposit, are now having to fork out an additional £18,537 for house price inflation.

1.8 million homes fall into higher Stamp Duty bracket

Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale, the rise in house prices has meant another 1.8 million homes have fallen into the higher Stamp Duty tax bracket, according to property portal Zoopla.

Their House Price Index also showed that houses are being sold nearly 50% quicker today than two years ago (22 days compared to 42 days in 2019).

A spokeswoman for the company said they believed 2001 will prove to be one of the busiest years for property transactions since the last global recession back in 2008.

House prices continue to fare poorly in London

It also showed London with the lowest annual growth of 2.2%. That put the Capital firmly at the bottom of the league table for the seventh time in a row, as residents move to greener pastures and coastal locations. Biggest price rises in the UK are in Wales (7.1%), Yorkshire and the Humber (6.1%) and the north-east of England (5%). 

Liverpool and Manchester were the two cities topping the list for highest price rises.