Homebuyers paid £14.1bn in stamp duty over the past year, up 20% from £11.8bn in the previous year.
Business advisors and chartered accountants Lubbock Fine warned that the tax leaves working people ‘stuck’ in their current homes – unable to relocate to a better job because of the cost of stamp duty.
Tax rates rose from April 1 2025, with the threshold halving from £250,000 to £125,000, drawing more homeowners into the tax net.
Andrew Noton, partner at Lubbock Fine, said: “The Chancellor slashed the stamp duty allowance in the latest Budget – this has dragged many more homebuyers in the stamp duty net.
“Very few properties – especially in London and the South East – are worth less than the new allowance. Many more homebuyers will be paying a hefty stamp duty sum on top of the value of their new property.
“Adding such a large extra cost to a house purchase will deter people from moving. This is a tax on labour mobility which makes it harder to relocate closer to new career opportunities.”
Noton explains that house moving helps drive economic activity in local areas by creating work for local tradespeople and professional services.