Rightmove calls for stamp duty reform to help first-time buyers

First-time buyers are bearing the brunt of stamp duty changes and Rightmove thinks the system needs a regional rethink.

Buying a home has never been cheap. But for first-time buyers, the numbers have become harder still  and not just because of property prices.

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT, or simply stamp duty, and Land Transaction Tax if you are buying in Wales) has long been one of the biggest upfront costs in any purchase. And since the government rolled back the first-time buyer threshold at the end of March 2025, dropping it from £425,000 to £300,000, that cost has climbed sharply for thousands of buyers.

Now Rightmove is calling on the government to look again at how stamp duty works and, in particular, to consider whether a regionally-aligned system might better reflect the realities of where people are actually buying.

Rightmove's data shows that first-time buyers paid £408 million in stamp duty between April 2025 and March 2026. In the same period the year before, that figure was £101 million.

Half of that increased total came from purchases in London alone. This reflects the fact that properties in the capital and across the South East and East of England are far more likely to sit above the £300,000 threshold, leaving buyers with a tax bill where previously there would have been none.

The table below shows how the average stamp duty cost per transaction shifted for first-time buyers across different price bands:

Source: Rightmove

Homes purchased between £300,001 and £425,000 alone generated £145 million in stamp duty from first-time buyers; a bracket that previously attracted no tax at all.

For first-time buyers, the practical effect is straightforward: there are fewer properties they can buy without paying stamp duty, and their budgets are being stretched further as a result. That means compromises on property type, on size, or on location.

Buyers in the north of England and the South West are better placed than those in the south and east, where property prices regularly push transactions into higher tax bands.

Rightmove also points out that while average house prices have continued to rise, the stamp duty thresholds themselves have not kept pace raising questions about whether the current structure still reflects market reality across the country.

Rightmove's proposed solution is a stamp duty system that accounts for regional price variation, rather than applying the same thresholds uniformly across England.

Colleen Babcock, a property expert at Rightmove, said:

"Our latest figures show just how much stamp duty costs have risen for first-time buyers since the threshold fell, particularly in London and the South East, where far more homes now sit above the zero-rate limit.

This reduces choice and increases the savings needed before buyers can even consider moving.

A more regionally-aligned approach to stamp duty could better support first-time buyers where affordability pressures are greatest, while also helping to encourage more movement across the housing ladder."

Stamp duty is one cost buyers cannot avoid, but conveyancing does not have to add unnecessary pressure to your budget.

At Homeward Legal, we provide a fixed-fee quote that will not change for a standard conveyancing transaction as what you are quoted is what you pay. We also start work as soon as you appoint us, so there is no delay getting your purchase moving. And if your sale or purchase falls through before completion, our no completion, no fee promise means you will not owe us a penny.

Call us on to get a quote, or use our online quote generator to get started today.