The stamp duty free hotspots offering the biggest savings until September

The latest research by lettings and estate agent, Benham and Reeves, has revealed just how much of the property market is due to remain stamp duty free as a result of the soft landing implemented in the form of a double extension.

Currently, 93% of local authorities across England are home to an average house price that falls below the current £500,000 stamp duty holiday threshold, meaning the average buyer will pay no stamp duty at all.

While this extension is due to expire in June, the government has implemented a ‘soft landing’ by further extending the holiday with a lower holiday price threshold of £250,000.

As a result of this extended deadline via a reduced price threshold, the average homebuyer across 138 local authorities in England will continue to pay no stamp duty at all. That’s almost half of the market (44%) that will benefit from the double deadline extension announced in last week’s Budget.

The biggest benefit?

Somerset and West Taunton. With an average house price of £248,838, the area falls just within the £250,000 extension meaning that the average homebuyer is set to save the most for the longest period, paying no stamp duty until September versus £2,477 in regular market conditions.

Homebuyers in Blaby are also set to save the most for the maximum amount of time, with an average house price of £248,056 saving £2,461 per purchase right through until the end of September.

Sedgemoor, South Somerset, Torridge, Breckland, the Isle of Wight and Charnwood also rank high in terms of the largest saving and longest opportunity to secure it, with homebuyers saving over £2,400 in stamp duty per sale.

Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, commented:

“Homebuyers across the nation will be rejoicing at last week’s Budget news of a stamp duty holiday extension and the tax reprieve will continue to save them a considerable amount of money when transacting.

Some have chosen to bypass this positive influence to focus on the potential market cliff edge caused, predicting a house price dip when the expiration date does finally arrive. While this is highly unlikely to materialise, the government has attempted to soften any blow by further extending the deadline for purchases of £250,000 or less.

However, the reality is that this ‘gradual’ return to normality might not actually be that gradual. While it will reduce the number of transactions paying no stamp duty by quite some margin, many homebuyers will still benefit and this is likely to keep demand extremely buoyant right through until September.”

House price data sourced from the Land Registry (Dec 2020).

*Table shows the number of local authorities in England where the average house price falls under both the £500k and £250k stamp duty holiday thresholds*
Category	Count	%
LAs under £500,000	292	93%
LAs under £250,000	138	44%
Total LAs (England)	314	-

Table shows all local authorities where the average house price falls below the £250,000 September stamp duty deadline threshold
Location	Current average house price	SDLT owed before holiday	SDLT owed since holiday	SDLT saving
Somerset West and Taunton	£248,838	£2,477	£0	-£2,477
Blaby	£248,056	£2,461	£0	-£2,461
Sedgemoor	£247,754	£2,455	£0	-£2,455
South Somerset	£247,600	£2,452	£0	-£2,452
Torridge	£246,105	£2,422	£0	-£2,422
Breckland	£245,863	£2,417	£0	-£2,417
Isle of Wight	£245,088	£2,402	£0	-£2,402
Charnwood	£245,040	£2,401	£0	-£2,401
Craven	£244,843	£2,397	£0	-£2,397
Mid Devon	£241,938	£2,339	£0	-£2,339
Hinckley and Bosworth	£238,778	£2,276	£0	-£2,276
Luton	£238,299	£2,266	£0	-£2,266
Oadby and Wigston	£237,714	£2,254	£0	-£2,254
King's Lynn and West Norfolk	£237,037	£2,241	£0	-£2,241
Tendring	£233,456	£2,169	£0	-£2,169
Shropshire	£231,851	£2,137	£0	-£2,137
North Kesteven	£231,073	£2,121	£0	-£2,121
Ribble Valley	£228,589	£2,072	£0	-£2,072
Wellingborough	£228,570	£2,071	£0	-£2,071
Stafford	£228,411	£2,068	£0	-£2,068
Portsmouth	£228,194	£2,064	£0	-£2,064
South Kesteven	£227,641	£2,053	£0	-£2,053
Cheshire West and Chester	£227,383	£2,048	£0	-£2,048
Swindon	£226,991	£2,040	£0	-£2,040
Eden	£226,022	£2,020	£0	-£2,020
Redditch	£223,676	£1,974	£0	-£1,974
North West Leicestershire	£223,384	£1,968	£0	-£1,968
North Warwickshire	£222,039	£1,941	£0	-£1,941
Northampton	£221,393	£1,928	£0	-£1,928
Hastings	£220,643	£1,913	£0	-£1,913
Worcester	£219,787	£1,896	£0	-£1,896
Norwich	£219,105	£1,882	£0	-£1,882
Gosport	£218,533	£1,871	£0	-£1,871
Selby	£217,574	£1,851	£0	-£1,851
High Peak	£217,290	£1,846	£0	-£1,846
Southampton	£214,883	£1,798	£0	-£1,798
Gloucester	£213,428	£1,769	£0	-£1,769
Warrington	£212,973	£1,759	£0	-£1,759
Gedling	£212,537	£1,751	£0	-£1,751
Fylde	£210,234	£1,705	£0	-£1,705
Torbay	£210,160	£1,703	£0	-£1,703
Leeds	£209,892	£1,698	£0	-£1,698
South Derbyshire	£209,873	£1,697	£0	-£1,697
Broxtowe	£209,230	£1,685	£0	-£1,685
Ipswich	£207,985	£1,660	£0	-£1,660
Kettering	£207,715	£1,654	£0	-£1,654
Wyre Forest	£206,444	£1,629	£0	-£1,629
Staffordshire Moorlands	£204,324	£1,586	£0	-£1,586
Corby	£203,106	£1,562	£0	-£1,562
West Lancashire	£202,859	£1,557	£0	-£1,557
Amber Valley	£202,326	£1,547	£0	-£1,547
North East Derbyshire	£202,184	£1,544	£0	-£1,544
Leicester	£201,956	£1,539	£0	-£1,539
Birmingham	£201,308	£1,526	£0	-£1,526
Manchester	£200,514	£1,510	£0	-£1,510
Fenland	£200,206	£1,504	£0	-£1,504
Bury	£198,747	£1,475	£0	-£1,475
East Lindsey	£198,353	£1,467	£0	-£1,467
Coventry	£197,253	£1,445	£0	-£1,445
Tamworth	£196,478	£1,430	£0	-£1,430
Dudley	£196,234	£1,425	£0	-£1,425
Newark and Sherwood	£196,191	£1,424	£0	-£1,424
City of Peterborough	£196,132	£1,423	£0	-£1,423
East Staffordshire	£195,550	£1,411	£0	-£1,411
East Riding of Yorkshire	£194,768	£1,395	£0	-£1,395
Chorley	£194,213	£1,384	£0	-£1,384
South Holland	£191,793	£1,336	£0	-£1,336
Nuneaton and Bedworth	£191,681	£1,334	£0	-£1,334
Great Yarmouth	£185,978	£1,220	£0	-£1,220
Cannock Chase	£185,945	£1,219	£0	-£1,219
City of Plymouth	£185,108	£1,202	£0	-£1,202
West Lindsey	£184,278	£1,186	£0	-£1,186
Sheffield	£183,090	£1,162	£0	-£1,162
Erewash	£183,006	£1,160	£0	-£1,160
Sefton	£182,316	£1,146	£0	-£1,146
Telford and Wrekin	£181,491	£1,130	£0	-£1,130
Walsall	£181,229	£1,125	£0	-£1,125
Scarborough	£181,037	£1,121	£0	-£1,121
Bassetlaw	£180,140	£1,103	£0	-£1,103
Salford	£179,242	£1,085	£0	-£1,085
South Ribble	£178,171	£1,063	£0	-£1,063
Wirral	£177,624	£1,052	£0	-£1,052
North Tyneside	£175,589	£1,012	£0	-£1,012
Chesterfield	£171,056	£921	£0	-£921
City of Derby	£170,698	£914	£0	-£914
Newcastle-under-Lyme	£169,474	£889	£0	-£889
Northumberland	£167,879	£858	£0	-£858
Wakefield	£167,497	£850	£0	-£850
Allerdale	£167,388	£848	£0	-£848
Newcastle upon Tyne	£167,246	£845	£0	-£845
Lancaster	£167,228	£845	£0	-£845
Sandwell	£166,220	£824	£0	-£824
Tameside	£165,841	£817	£0	-£817
Boston	£165,725	£815	£0	-£815
Kirklees	£165,701	£814	£0	-£814
Ashfield	£165,158	£803	£0	-£803
Wolverhampton	£164,350	£787	£0	-£787
Wyre	£163,323	£766	£0	-£766
City of Nottingham	£162,962	£759	£0	-£759
Calderdale	£161,662	£733	£0	-£733
North Lincolnshire	£161,293	£726	£0	-£726
Lincoln	£160,954	£719	£0	-£719
Oldham	£157,246	£645	£0	-£645
Rossendale	£156,090	£622	£0	-£622
Bradford	£154,899	£598	£0	-£598
Rotherham	£154,860	£597	£0	-£597
Rochdale	£153,440	£569	£0	-£569
Bolton	£152,282	£546	£0	-£546
Halton	£151,570	£531	£0	-£531
Bolsover	£150,643	£513	£0	-£513
Wigan	£150,452	£509	£0	-£509
Mansfield	£148,456	£469	£0	-£469
Liverpool	£148,324	£466	£0	-£466
Carlisle	£144,791	£396	£0	-£396
Stockton-on-Tees	£143,770	£375	£0	-£375
Knowsley	£143,175	£364	£0	-£364
Doncaster	£142,313	£346	£0	-£346
St Helens	£142,303	£346	£0	-£346
Barnsley	£141,634	£333	£0	-£333
Gateshead	£140,954	£319	£0	-£319
Darlington	£140,414	£308	£0	-£308
South Tyneside	£138,200	£264	£0	-£264
Preston	£136,557	£231	£0	-£231
North East Lincolnshire	£134,863	£197	£0	-£197
Copeland	£132,423	£148	£0	-£148
Barrow-in-Furness	£129,714	£94	£0	-£94
Redcar and Cleveland	£127,625	£53	£0	-£53
Blackburn with Darwen	£126,585	£32	£0	-£32
Sunderland	£125,718	£14	£0	-£14
Middlesbrough	£119,220	£0	£0	£0
Blackpool	£115,154	£0	£0	£0
Hyndburn	£105,035	£0	£0	£0
Hartlepool	£108,756	£0	£0	£0
City of Kingston upon Hull	£116,233	£0	£0	£0
Pendle	£110,257	£0	£0	£0
County Durham	£113,761	£0	£0	£0
Stoke-on-Trent	£122,742	£0	£0	£0
Burnley	£97,667	£0	£0	£0