Stamp duty savings: 10 areas to find homes for sale priced under £500,000 – with a tax break of up to £15,000 on offer

After the stamp duty 'holiday' announcement, here are the tax savings to be had on homes in 10 areas with average prices between £450,000 and £500,000.
1/20

Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s announcement of an eight-month stamp duty “holiday” saw millions rush straight to online property portals last week in a bid to take advantage of the temporary tax savings.

For all purchases completed before March 31 next year, the first £500,000 will be exempt from stamp duty - which means nine in 10 people buying a main home this year will pay no tax on it at all, says the Government.

Prior to the change, buyers of a £500,000 home had to pay £15,000 in a lump sum within 14 days of purchase.

Second steppers, rather than first-time buyers, stand to benefit most from the new eight-month tax-free window – first timers were already exempt from stamp duty on the first £300,000 of their home purchase.

Designed to stimulate the housing market, the measure has prompted a surge of interest.

The market was already seeing a post-lockdown business boost but visits to online property site Rightmove rocketed to 8.5 million on July 8, the day Mr Sunak broke the news in his summer mini Budget, while the biggest UK estate agents also report record demand from buyers.

The greatest savings stand to be made by second-step buyers who focus their search outside London, in areas recording average prices up to £500,000.

“Buyers in higher priced areas with bigger deposits will benefit most from the temporary stamp duty holiday, in some cases making savings of almost £15,000," said Rightmove's property expert Miles Shipside.

"Home-hunters who may have had to compromise on location before the announcement could now find it opens up other areas to them, or perhaps those saving to trade up are now able to make that jump more easily.”

Ten areas outside London with average prices up to £500,000

Area Average asking price Potential stamp duty savings
Dorking, Surrey £498,422 £14,921
Lymington, Hampshire £498,326 £14,916
Sunbury-On-Thames, Surrey £498,088 £14,904
Barton On Sea, Hampshire £497,853 £14,893
Lewes, East Sussex £491,304 £14,565
Broxbourne, Hertfordshire £486,701 £14,335
Hove, East Sussex £481,455 £14,073
Oxford, Oxfordshire £479,099 £13,955
Leckhampton, Gloucestershire £477,518 £13,876
Hertford, Hertfordshire £477,431 £13,872

See our gallery above for the stamp duty savings on properties for sale in 10 areas outside London that have average prices between £450,000 and £500,000.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in