Stamp duty holiday on course to save homebuyers £1.5bn having already saved £817m

Research by Keller Williams UK has found that the current stamp duty holiday has already saved homebuyers an estimated £817m, with the potential to reach £1.5bn before the March deadline.

Despite huge market backlogs and many homebuyers fearing they will miss out, the benefit of the current tax reprieve is abundantly clear.

Keller Williams UK analysed property sold price records for residential transactions in England since the introduction of the stamp duty holiday. They then looked at the number of transactions exempt from paying stamp duty as a percentage of all transactions and the total saving made by homebuyer above and below the £500,000 threshold.

The data shows 147,969 transactions have completed to the tune of more than £50.3m in value since 8th July last year.

A notable 125,389 (85%) of these transactions have fallen within the £500,000 price bracket meaning they’re exempt from paying stamp duty due to the current holiday.

Before the stamp duty holiday, the 147,969 homebuyers to have already completed since 8th July last year would have paid an eye-watering £1.444bn in stamp duty.

Thanks to the reprieve in place, stamp duty tax paid since July of last year totals just £627.467m at present, with more homebuyers still due to benefit as a result. That’s a stamp duty saving of £817m

With homebuyers saving £5.6m a day so far, Keller Williams forecasts the total saving come the end of March could be as high as £1.5bn.

Homebuyers in London have seen by far the most significant saving compared to other major UK cities. Keller Williams UK estimates the capital has seen a stamp duty saving of £190m alone, with 49% of all transactions also paying no tax at all having completed below the £500,000 threshold.

In contrast, a more affordable price tag across other regional cities means the saving has been far less pronounced, although the benefit has arguably been greater.

In Sunderland, for example, 99.7% of residential transactions have been stamp duty exempt. While this saving equates to just £599,349, it has seen the amount of stamp duty paid hit just £12,025 compared to £611,374 in normal market conditions; a considerable saving for homebuyers in the city.

CEO of Keller Williams UK, Ben Taylor, commented:

“While many will grumble about the current market backlogs and the level of homebuyers who could miss out on a stamp duty saving, there’s no denying it has been monumentally beneficial.

“Not only has it helped revive the market from a demand standpoint, but homebuyers have saved a tremendous amount of money.

“Although this saving has been more pronounced across the more inflated pockets of the market, a far higher percentage of homebuyers in more affordable areas have paid no stamp duty whatsoever.“

Table shows the current and forecast stamp duty saving based on a saving of £5,594,019 per day already saved
Stamp Duty Saving Period	Time period	Days	Saving per day	*SDLT saving*
Current stamp duty saving period	8th July 2020 to 30th November 2020	146	£5,594,019	£816,726,800
Forecast stamp duty saving	1st Dec 2020 to 31st March 2021	121	£5,594,019	£676,876,321
Potential total stamp duty saving	8th July 2020 to 31st March 2021	267	£5,594,019	£1,493,603,121
Saving per day based on the current saving of £816,726,800 divided by 146 days.

*Table shows the number of transactions completed in England between 8th July 2020 and the end of November 2020, the percentage that have paid no stamp duty and the stamp duty saving made*
Location	All transactions	Value of transactions	Stamp duty exempt transactions	Value of stamp duty exempt	Stamp duty exempt as % of all	SDLT paid at regular market rates	SDLT paid due to holiday	Saving (£)
London	15,982	£11,228,111,201	7859	£2,908,742,858	49.2%	£541,130,168	£351,067,109	£190,063,059
Bournemouth	1,446	£550,055,869	1207	£353,578,236	83.5%	£15,452,360	£5,458,792	£9,993,569
Bristol	1,168	£423,450,561	997	£288,835,683	85.4%	£10,703,785	£3,168,394	£7,535,391
Leeds	2,123	£512,592,737	2000	£427,342,167	94.2%	£8,540,506	£1,418,219	£7,122,287
Birmingham	1,961	£454,431,760	1865	£386,118,310	95.1%	£6,939,662	£1,181,523	£5,758,140
Sheffield	1,192	£260,880,351	1133	£218,310,949	95.1%	£3,919,879	£721,720	£3,198,159
Oxford	276	£165,114,970	173	£62,065,365	62.7%	£6,968,469	£4,035,680	£2,932,788
Manchester	924	£213,234,806	890	£191,035,985	96.3%	£3,070,438	£266,741	£2,803,697
Cambridge	243	£129,155,890	153	£54,968,140	63.0%	£4,525,318	£1,917,848	£2,607,470
Portsmouth	581	£150,825,462	550	£130,108,962	94.7%	£2,448,299	£304,575	£2,143,724
Plymouth	837	£178,453,142	821	£168,230,142	98.1%	£2,151,285	£113,650	£2,037,635
Newcastle	718	£158,849,193	690	£136,018,018	96.1%	£2,535,100	£591,009	£1,944,091
Liverpool	934	£166,728,091	908	£150,539,601	97.2%	£1,900,440	£159,425	£1,741,015
Southampton	524	£122,823,390	519	£119,700,890	99.0%	£1,605,549	£31,125	£1,574,424
Leicester	430	£95,177,866	419	£87,164,866	97.4%	£1,229,689	£136,950	£1,092,739
Nottingham	611	£111,819,616	600	£104,504,616	98.2%	£1,095,223	£93,750	£1,001,473
Sunderland	634	£89,711,011	632	£88,470,511	99.7%	£611,374	£12,025	£599,349
*ENGLAND*	147,969	£50,368,899,661	125,389	£30,729,461,900	84.7%	£1,444,193,933	£627,467,133	£816,726,800
Data sourced from the Land Registry Price Paid records of all transactions to have completed up until November 2020 (the latest available data).