"Those currently on the hunt still have time to beat next year’s deadline but they need to get their skates on and complete within the next five months"
- Adam Day - eXp UK
The latest research by eXp UK has revealed that as of next April, first-time buyers will have considerably less choice when it comes to a stamp duty free property purchase, as the current Stamp Duty Land Tax threshold at which no tax is owed reverts back to £300,000 from the current threshold of £425,000 - a move that will see SDLT free stock levels fall by 20% of over 90,000 properties.
As of 1st April 2025, the SDLT threshold up to which first-time buyers don’t pay stamp duty in England is going to revert back from its current level of £425,000 down to £300,000, a schedule reduction put in place by the former Tory government, that Labour failed to reverse during the recent Autumn Budget.
eXp UK has analysed current for-sale market stock, looking at the asking price of over 450,000 current listings across England, how many are priced at or below the existing stamp duty free threshold of £425,000, as well as the soon-to-be threshold of £300,000, to reveal the impact the change will have on first-time buyer choice for a stamp duty free purchase.
eXp UK’s analysis shows that there are currently an estimated 453,212 homes listed for sale in England.
62% of these properties (281,863) are priced below the current first-time buyer SDLT threshold of £425,000 and are, therefore, available for purchase without paying any stamp duty tax at all.
However, under the incoming lower threshold of £300,000, only 42% of the properties are available without tax.
This marks a reduction of -20%, which means the number of stamp duty purchasing opportunities available to first-time buyers would fall by -91,570 if it were implemented today.
Again, this analysis is based on current stock levels but offers valuable insight into the sort of impact that first-time buyers can expect to see in the spring.
England’s worst-hit cities
While the national tax-free stock reduction stands at -20%, first-time buyers in some of England’s major cities are going to see an even more radical drop in the number of homes available to them.
None more so than in Bristol where the reduced threshold could see the proportion of SDLT-free homes fall from 69% all the way down to 26%, a drop of -34%.
First-time buyers in Leicester can expect SDLT-free stock to fall by -26%, followed by Brighton (-23%), Greater Manchester (-21%), and Leeds (-20%).
There are, however, a number of cities in which stock levels will see a below-average drop, including Liverpool (-13%), Bradford (-14%), and Sheffield (-15%).
Head of eXp UK, Adam Day, commented: “There was hope that last week’s Autumn Budget would extend the current stamp duty relief given to first-time buyers, at the very least.
"Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case and, as a result, the nation’s first-time buyers now need to prepare themselves for a significant reduction in the number of homes available to them that would come with the benefit of no stamp duty owed.
"Those currently on the hunt still have time to beat next year’s deadline but they need to get their skates on and complete within the next five months.”
