Stamp duty rate change comes into effect in England and Northern Ireland

Tax-free threshold drops from £500,000 to £250,000 for property purchases.

New stamp duty rates will apply to homes bought from today (1 July), as the stamp duty holiday in England and Northern Ireland starts to be phased out.

Home buyers will now have to pay stamp duty for property purchases above £250,000.

From 8 July 2020 to 30 June 2021, new home owners or main home movers didn’t have to pay any stamp duty on the first £500,000 of a property price. This meant a potential saving of up to £15,000.

That policy was announced last summer by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, as part of the government’s bid to buoy activity in the housing market, which had ground to a halt during the nation’s first coronavirus lockdown in spring 2020.

Today’s stamp duty rate change marks the phasing out of that stamp duty cut, with rates set to return to normal on 1 October, 2021. At that point, home buyers will again start to pay stamp duty on property purchases of more than £125,000.

Along with first-time buyers and home movers, landlords and second-home buyers can continue to make use of any stamp duty savings that are available until 1 October. But they still have to pay the extra 3% stamp duty charge that applies to people who buy additional properties.

While today’s rate change affects properties purchased in England and Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales continue to operate their own stamp duty systems.

To find out more about stamp duty rates in all parts of the UK, visit our stamp duty guide.