Should stamp duty thresholds be raised to boost the housing market?
In England and Northern Ireland the nil-rate threshold for Stamp Duty Land Tax stands at £125,000 for standard buyers and £300,000 for first-time buyers following its reduction from temporary higher levels in April 2025. House prices have risen substantially since the bands were last permanently adjusted, pulling more transactions into tax and increasing average bills. Industry groups, housebuilders and MPs argue that raising thresholds would cut costs for buyers, boost transactions and support government housebuilding targets ahead of the October 2026 Budget.
4 Opinions
Remove it completely
Past stamp duty holidays show that tax savings get swallowed up by higher asking prices, benefiting sellers while doing zero to increase housing supply.
Stamp duty should be abolished. It bring into budget £13.9 billion in 2024-25 and rose to about £15.2 billion in 2025-26. We can stop foreign aid and there will be no difference to budget.
Yes but particularly for first time buyers. Additionally this should absolutely not come at the expense of efforts to build many more houses.