If you’re a home mover looking to save money, buying a property under the stamp duty threshold could save you thousands. Here’s where to find the most homes under £250,000.
Stamp duty land tax – or SDLT – is the tax you pay when you buy property or land over a certain price in England and Northern Ireland.
Scotland and Wales also have an equivalent tax but different rates apply.
In England and Northern Ireland, no tax is paid if a property is priced below £250,000 and you are an existing homeowner.
Different thresholds apply for first-time buyers, who can buy a property up to £425,000 without paying the tax.
Those buying a home that won’t be their primary residence will pay an additional 3% surcharge on the entire price of the property.
And buyers from overseas will pay an additional 2% surcharge.
Why is it important to know about stamp duty before buying?
A stamp duty bill can be a small or run into tens of thousands of pounds for high value properties. And where you are looking to buy can also affect the amount you pay.
Here’s what an existing homeowner would pay in stamp duty for the average-priced UK home (£265,000) cross the UK.
Stamp duty paid on a £265,000 property in the UK
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£745 in England and Northern Ireland
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£2,850 in Scotland
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And £3,200 in Wales
Right now, nearly 1 in 3 (31%) properties listed on Zoopla are priced below the local stamp duty threshold for homeowners. This translates to over 140,000 homes that are available to buy without incurring a tax bill.
Where can homeowners find a home without paying stamp duty?
The percentage of homes under the stamp duty threshold across the UK
| Region/Country | Avg house price | Proportion of homes below stamp duty threshold | No. of homes on Zoopla below threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| North East | £139,700 | 76% | 9,500 |
| Yorkshire & The Humber | £185,400 | 57% | 17,200 |
| North West | £193,500 | 57% | 23,100 |
| West Midlands | £228,700 | 46% | 15,100 |
| East Midlands | £229,000 | 45% | 14,600 |
| Wales | £204,200 | 43% | 9,300 |
| Scotland | £160,300 | 35% | 6,500 |
| South West | £316,100 | 29% | 13,000 |
| East of England | £340,200 | 23% | 11,800 |
| South East | £388,900 | 20% | 16,700 |
| London | £540,800 | 5% | 4,000 |
| UK | £264,900 | 31% | 140,800 |
Zoopla
Our historical analysis shows that 60% of all stamp duty receipts are paid in the South East and London.
This is down to homes in the south being priced at a higher level than those elsewhere in the country, so finding a home below the tax threshold will be harder here.
Only 1 in 6 homes listed for sale on Zoopla in southern England is priced below the stamp duty threshold of £250,000.
In the Midlands, close to a half of homes listed for sale would be under the threshold.
Meanwhile, in the North of England, where homes are among the most affordable in the UK, we find that 3 in 5 homes could be bought without paying the tax.
This increases to three-quarters in the North East specifically, where the average house price is below £140,000.
In Scotland and Wales, where the stamp duty tax is different to that in England, we find 35% and 43% of homes don’t qualify for tax if bought by an existing homeowner.
This is because the threshold for exemption is lower.
In Scotland the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax threshold kicks in at £175,000.
In Wales, the Land Transaction Tax begins at £225,000.
In contrast to most of England, both of these thresholds are below the average house price for each of the respective regions.
Regional towns have the highest number of homes under the SDLT threshold
The availability of homes exempt from stamp duty varies and is closely linked to the house prices in a given area. This creates differences in the availability of tax-exempt homes within regions too.
We find the largest spread of property values in Yorkshire and the Humber: currently only 21% of homes on the market in York are under the £250,000 threshold – yet 89% of homes up for sale in Hull are priced below £250,000.
We register a similar spread in Wales, where 13% of homes for sale in Monmouthshire sit below the £225,000 LTT threshold, while 78% of homes on the market in Blaenau Gwent are priced below £225,000.
Across the UK as a whole, the largest proportion of homes exempt from stamp duty can be found in the regional towns of northern England.
When it comes to local authorities, Hull has the largest proportion of stamp duty-exempt homes on the market for existing homeowners, with 89% of properties currently priced below the £250,000 threshold.
Hull is closely followed by Blackpool, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool, where 87% of homes would not be subject to any stamp duty land tax.
All of these areas are either the cheapest – or among the cheapest – areas to buy within their respective regions, with average house prices below £125,000.
Looking beyond northern England, where average house prices exceed £200,000, homes that would avoid a stamp duty bill are less common, but not impossible to find.
Nearly 4 in 5 properties are exempt from stamp duty in Stoke-on-Trent, which is the highest proportion anywhere in the Midlands.
Plymouth is the winner in the South, with just over half of homes on the market below the homeowners’ stamp duty threshold.
Where to find homes exempt from stamp duty across the UK
| Region | LA with highest proportion of homes under SDLT threshold | % of homes for sale | Avg house price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yorkshire & The Humber | Hull | 89% | £113,200 |
| North West | Blackpool | 87% | £122,800 |
| North East | Middlesborough | 87% | £114,100 |
| Wales | Blaenau Gwent | 79% | £127,800 |
| West Midlands | Stoke-on-Trent | 78% | £132,600 |
| East Midlands | Boston | 67% | £178,200 |
| Scotland | West Dunbartonshire | 59% | £109,100 |
| South West | Plymouth | 53% | £201,200 |
| East of England | Norwich | 50% | £228,500 |
| South East | Southampton | 46% | £223,100 |
| London | Barking & Dagenham | 22% | £334,100 |
Zoopla
The areas where it’s harder to avoid stamp duty
Most stamp duty payments come from the south of the UK.
With the highest house prices anywhere in the country, it comes as no surprise that London has the fewest homes that could be bought without incurring a stamp duty bill.
Only 1 in 20 homes listed for sale in the capital would qualify for an exemption and in October this year, only 4,000 homes in the capital were marketed below the £250,000 threshold.
Half of them were concentrated in 8 boroughs on the edges of London: Croydon, Hillingdon, Sutton, Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Hounslow, Bromley and Bexley.
Outside of the capital, Edinburgh has the second lowest concentration of homes below the land and buildings transaction tax threshold of £175,000.
Only 1 in 20 homes listed for sale in the Scottish capital is exempt from the tax.
Other high-value areas in the South East and East of England also have a very limited number of homes priced below the homeowner’s stamp duty threshold.
Only 1 in 17 homes in Elmbridge and St Albans and 1 in 14 homes marketed in Hertsmere would be exempt from stamp duty land tax.
How can I find a home that won’t cost me any stamp duty?
Now that you know which areas won’t cost you a stamp duty bill, it’s time to check them out on Zoopla to see if they have the home you’re looking for.
Our price filters will help you find a home that both fits your budget and falls below the stamp duty tax threshold.
You can also use Stamp Duty calculator to find out more about stamp duty, the different rates charged and how it may impact your next home purchase.
Key takeaways
- Most of them can be found in the north east, Yorkshire and the Humber and the north west. In fact in the north as a whole, 3 in 5 make the cut
- In southern England, only 1 in 6 homes for sale is priced below the £250,000 threshold
- London and Edinburgh are where homeowners are least likely to find a home exempt from the tax