"Largely speaking, a high proportion of property market stock will remain below the £300,000 threshold and so they will continue to benefit from a stamp duty free purchase."
- Yopa’s national franchise director, Steve Anderson
New research has revealed which areas of England are home to the most first-time buyer friendly markets now that they are about to face a reduced stamp duty relief threshold of £300,000.
During last week’s Autumn Budget, Labour didn't reverse the decision by the last government to reduce the stamp duty tax threshold for first-time buyers from its current level of £425,000 down to £300,000 from April 2025. As such first-time buyers will now have a smaller budget to play with if they want to avoid having to pay a significant tax bill on their purchase.
To understand how this threshold change might impact the number of tax-free homes available to first-timers, Yopa has analysed sold price records from the Land Registry, looking at annual transaction levels across England and where is home to the highest number at or below the £300,000 mark.
The data reveals that on an annual basis, an estimated total of 613,084 property purchases took place across England. Of these, an estimated 323,680 were bought for less than £300,000, equivalent to 52.8% of all transactions.
In some regions of the country, however, a far greater proportion of homes sold for less than £300,000, suggesting that, when the threshold reduction comes in, these markets will provide first-time buyers with particularly plentiful buying options.
At the top of that list is the North East region where last year saw 85% of properties sold for less than £300,000.
Other regions where first-time buyers appear to have a particularly good chance of finding a tax-free home after April 2025 include Yorkshire & Humber (77.5%), the North West (75.9%), East Midlands (70%), and West Midlands (68.5%).
Local Authority analysis
The availability of SDLT-free homes gets even better when analysing price paid data on a local authority district level. And once again, it’s the North of England that offers the widest choice with some districts seeing almost all homes sold below the incoming lower threshold.
In the city of Hull, 97.8% of residential purchases were made for less than £300,000, followed by Blackpool (97.3%), and Hyndburn (96.9%).
The other districts where more than 90% of sales come in at under £300,000 are Stoke-on-Trent (94.9%), Burnley (94.4%), Middlesbrough (92.6%), North East Lincolnshire (91.9%), Redcar & Cleveland (91.6%), County Durham (91.3%), Sunderland (90.8%), and Blackburn with Darwen (90.3%).
However, first-time buyers in London are facing the toughest search for a tax-free home from April, as there are 17 boroughs where less than 10% of 2023 transactions fell under £300,000, including but not limited to Kensington & Chelsea (2.1%), Hackney (6.2%), and Southwark (8.3%).
Yopa’s national franchise director, Steve Anderson, commented: “Homebuyers across the nation will have been hoping for an extension to stamp duty relief thresholds but unfortunately this wasn’t to be the case and so many, particularly first-time buyers, will now be anxious to make their move before the March 31st deadline next year.
"However, first-time buyers should rest assured that, largely speaking, a high proportion of property market stock will remain below the £300,000 threshold and so they will continue to benefit from a stamp duty free purchase.
"This chance of a stamp duty free purchase does, of course, differ depending on where you live in the country and it’s those looking to get a foot on the London property ladder who are likely to face the largest increase in the cost of buying.”
