Average stamp duty by region
What the tax actually comes to on the average home where you live, for movers, first-time buyers and second homes.
Stamp duty is a national tax charged on wildly regional prices, so what it actually costs depends far more on where you buy than on any rule. We took the latest Land Registry average price for every English region, Northern Ireland and 23 cities, ran each one through the current stamp duty bands, and worked out the bill. On the average English home it comes to £4,663. On the average North East home it is £811. On the average London one, £17,694.
The short version
- The average buyer in England pays £4,663 in stamp duty, an effective rate of 1.59%.
- Across regions the bill runs from £811 in the North East to £17,694 in London, on the same rates.
- First-time buyer relief still covers the average first-time buyer everywhere except London and the South East. The South East crosses the £300,000 threshold by £540.
- Buy the same average home as a second property and the surcharge takes the England bill to £19,326.
- Prices are HM Land Registry, June 2026. Stamp duty is worked out by our own stamp duty calculator, on the bands in force now. England and Northern Ireland only.
Stamp duty on the average home, by region
Stamp duty is charged in slices. Nothing is due on the first £125,000, then 2% on the portion to £250,000, then 5% to £925,000, and higher rates above that. Because the bands are fixed and prices are not, the share of a purchase that lands in a taxed slice grows quickly as you move south, and the effective rate, the bill as a percentage of the price, grows with it.
These are buyers replacing a main home, which is the standard case. The prices are the average paid in June 2026.
| Region | Average price | Stamp duty | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| North East | £165,550 | £811 | 0.49% |
| Northern Ireland | £202,487 | £1,550 | 0.77% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £207,948 | £1,659 | 0.80% |
| North West | £219,922 | £1,898 | 0.86% |
| West Midlands | £234,731 | £2,195 | 0.93% |
| East Midlands | £240,457 | £2,309 | 0.96% |
| South West | £304,562 | £5,228 | 1.72% |
| East of England | £338,707 | £6,935 | 2.05% |
| South East | £380,380 | £9,019 | 2.37% |
| London | £553,870 | £17,694 | 3.19% |
| England | £293,262 | £4,663 | 1.59% |
The gap is the story. A North East buyer hands over £811, less than a typical survey fee. A London buyer hands over £17,694, which is real deposit money and has to be found in cash on completion, because stamp duty cannot be added to a mortgage. Two buyers, the same tax, the same rates, and a bill that differs by a factor of 22. If you want the figure for a specific price rather than an average, the stamp duty calculator shows the band-by-band working; how stamp duty works explains the rules behind it.
What first-time buyers actually pay
First-time buyers get relief: no stamp duty at all up to £300,000, then 5% on the portion between £300,001 and £500,000. Above £500,000 the relief disappears completely and standard rates apply to the whole price.
Land Registry publishes a separate average for first-time buyers, who buy cheaper homes than the market as a whole. Run those prices through the relief and the picture is clear: the £300,000 threshold still covers the average first-time buyer in 7 of the 9 regions we can measure.
| Region | Average first-time buyer price | Stamp duty |
|---|---|---|
| North East | £144,514 | £0 |
| Northern Ireland | Not published monthly | · |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £180,121 | £0 |
| North West | £190,681 | £0 |
| West Midlands | £209,529 | £0 |
| East Midlands | £205,038 | £0 |
| South West | £251,476 | £0 |
| East of England | £278,792 | £0 |
| South East | £300,540 | £27 |
| London | £471,629 | £8,581 |
The South East is the line to watch. Its average first-time buyer price of £300,540 sits £540 above the threshold, which produces a bill of £27. That is a trivial sum in itself, and that is exactly the point: the average first-time buyer in the region has crossed from paying nothing to paying something, and every further pound of house price growth is now taxed at 5%. Another £20,000 on the average price would turn that £27 into £1,027.
London is long past that line. The average first-time buyer there pays £471,629 for a home and £8,581 in stamp duty, because most of the price sits in the taxed slice above £300,000. The full rules, including the cliff edge at £500,000, are in first-time buyer stamp duty.
Second homes and buy-to-let
Buying a property when you will own more than one adds 5% to every band, including the nil-rate band. Because it starts at the first pound rather than at £125,000, the surcharge is usually larger than the underlying tax, and it is largest in relative terms in the cheapest regions.
| Region | Average price | Stamp duty as an additional property |
|---|---|---|
| North East | £165,550 | £9,089 |
| Northern Ireland | £202,487 | £11,674 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £207,948 | £12,056 |
| North West | £219,922 | £12,895 |
| West Midlands | £234,731 | £13,931 |
| East Midlands | £240,457 | £14,332 |
| South West | £304,562 | £20,456 |
| East of England | £338,707 | £23,871 |
| South East | £380,380 | £28,038 |
| London | £553,870 | £45,387 |
A landlord buying an average North East home pays £9,089 instead of £811, which is more than 11 times the bill a homeowner would face on the same property. That matters for the sums on a rental: it is upfront cash that never appears in the yield. Stamp duty on second homes covers who counts as owning two, and when you can claim the surcharge back. The rental yield calculator takes purchase costs into account.
Stamp duty by city
Regional averages hide a lot, so here is the same calculation at local authority level for 23 cities. The first-time buyer column uses the separate first-time buyer average for that city.
| City | Average price | Stamp duty | First-time buyer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stoke-on-Trent | £148,799 | £476 | £0 |
| Bradford | £185,028 | £1,201 | £0 |
| Liverpool | £185,307 | £1,206 | £0 |
| Nottingham | £192,172 | £1,343 | £0 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | £208,589 | £1,672 | £0 |
| Sheffield | £219,539 | £1,891 | £0 |
| Coventry | £223,731 | £1,975 | £0 |
| Leicester | £228,618 | £2,072 | £0 |
| Norwich | £230,706 | £2,114 | £0 |
| Birmingham | £234,150 | £2,183 | £0 |
| Southampton | £235,362 | £2,207 | £0 |
| Leeds | £249,394 | £2,488 | £0 |
| Portsmouth | £250,999 | £2,550 | £0 |
| Manchester | £251,250 | £2,563 | £0 |
| York | £309,611 | £5,481 | £0 |
| Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | £312,162 | £5,608 | £0 |
| Milton Keynes | £325,104 | £6,255 | £0 |
| Bristol | £356,824 | £7,841 | £868 |
| Reading | £361,243 | £8,062 | £903 |
| Brighton and Hove | £407,803 | £10,390 | £2,171 |
| Oxford | £466,815 | £13,341 | £5,027 |
| Cambridge | £471,098 | £13,555 | £4,707 |
| London | £553,870 | £17,694 | £8,581 |
Stoke-on-Trent sits at £476 and London at £17,694, a spread of roughly 37 times on one national tax. On the first-time buyer side, 17 of the 23 cities still put the average first-time buyer under the £300,000 threshold. The 6 that do not are London (£8,581), Oxford (£5,027), Cambridge (£4,707), Brighton and Hove (£2,171), Reading (£903), Bristol (£868).
How we worked it out
Prices come from the HM Land Registry UK House Price Index, reference month June 2026, which is the latest published month. The index runs roughly two months in arrears and we refresh this page with each release. We use the average price paid for all buyers, and the separate first-time buyer average where the index publishes one.
The stamp duty on each price is not quoted from anywhere. It is computed by the same engine that runs our stamp duty calculator, using the residential rates published by HMRC: nil to £125,000, 2% to £250,000, 5% to £925,000, 10% to £1.5m and 12% above, with first-time buyer relief up to £500,000 and a 5% surcharge on additional properties. That means every number on this page moves the moment the bands do, and it cannot drift away from the calculator readers see.
Scotland and Wales are left out on purpose. They charge Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Land Transaction Tax respectively, with different thresholds, and we do not model either.
What the figures are not
An average is not a prediction and it is not your house. Land Registry averages cover every transaction in an area, from flats to detached family homes, so the average price in a city can be well above or below what you would pay for the specific property you are looking at. Use the table for the shape of the thing and the calculator for your own price.
These are estimates to help you plan, not financial advice. Your actual bill depends on the price you agree, whether you will own another property on completion, and any relief that applies to your circumstances. Confirm your position with HMRC or your conveyancer before you rely on a number, and remember stamp duty is due within 14 days of completion, in cash, on top of your deposit.
Common questions
- How much stamp duty do you pay on an average house in the UK?
- On the average home in England, £293,262 in June 2026, a buyer replacing their main home pays £4,663 in stamp duty. That is an effective rate of 1.59% of the purchase price. The bill varies enormously by region because the tax is banded and prices are not: the same tax comes to £811 on the average North East home and £17,694 on the average London one.
- Do first-time buyers pay stamp duty?
- Most do not, on the average figures. First-time buyer relief means no stamp duty up to £300,000, and the average first-time buyer price is below that in 7 of the 9 regions we could measure. The exceptions are London (£8,581) and the South East (£27). The South East only just crosses the line: its average first-time buyer price of £300,540 is £540 over the threshold.
- Which region pays the most stamp duty?
- London, by a wide margin. The average London home at £553,870 carries a stamp duty bill of £17,694, an effective rate of 3.19%. The average North East home at £165,550 carries £811, an effective rate of 0.49%. Same tax, same rates, roughly 22 times the bill.
- How much is stamp duty on a second home?
- Additional properties carry a 5% surcharge on top of every band, and because it applies from the first pound it dominates the bill. On the average English home the duty goes from £4,663 to £19,326, an effective rate of 6.59%. Even in the cheapest region the surcharge takes the bill on an average home to £9,089.
- Does stamp duty apply in Scotland and Wales?
- No. Stamp Duty Land Tax covers England and Northern Ireland only. Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) and Wales charges Land Transaction Tax (LTT). Both are banded differently, with different thresholds and different first-time buyer rules, so the figures on this page do not apply there and we have left Scotland and Wales out rather than quote numbers we do not model.
- Are these figures financial advice?
- No. They are estimates to help you plan, worked from published average prices and the current SDLT bands. Your own bill depends on the price you actually pay, whether you will own another property on completion, and reliefs that may apply to your circumstances. Confirm your position with HMRC or your conveyancer before you budget on a number.