Stamp Duty Really Painful In London And The South

Only ten years ago stamp duty on the purchase of a house was a little annoyance paid by buyers of what seemed to be big houses. Now the Treasury is rolling in the income it brings, with 80% of homebuyers having to pay it. Property prices have risen, but the tax has not kept up. Last year the Treasury reaped the rewards to the tune of £6.45bn from stamp duty – up nearly 800% in Labour’s period in office.

However, some parts of the country are much more badly affected than others. It’s not just in the bare numbers, but as a percentage of salary. Buyers in the south – excluding London – have to pay between 14.1% and 18.9% of their salary in stamp duty when they move, but in the north – from the Humber to Scotland – the percentage ranges from 6.3% to 7.7%. In Outer London people pay 19.3% of their salary in stamp duty, and in Inner London it’s a staggering 37.2%.

Surrey has six out of the top 20 most expensive stamp duty local authorities in the country. In Elmbridge anyone moving house would have to find almost 40% of their salary to move house – that’s around £15,000.

The most expensive local authority for stamp duty is Kensington & Chelsea with average stamp duty of £34,886, which is over 80% of the average salary – although these figures are distorted by the number of foreign investors in the area.

The cheapest area for stamp duty is Blaenau Gwent at £194. With local salaries averaging £18,614, stamp duty represents only 1% of income when someone moves. The Shetland Islands are next with the percentage being 1.4%.

The zero percent threshold for stamp duty is at £125,000. From there to £250,000 the percentage is 1%; from £250,000 to £500,000 it’s 3%, and above £500,000 it’s 4%. The percentage is charged on the whole value of the property