In the North East, only 2.1% of first-time buyers face a stamp duty bill.
Regional differences in house prices mean those in the Northernmost parts of England see a lower property cost.
First-time buyer threshold divides North and South
Most first-time buyers in Northern England are buying homes below £300,000 – the maximum figure that they do not pay stamp duty on.
In Yorkshire and the Humber, just 3.8% of first-time buyers pay stamp duty. In the North West, it is 6.2%, and in the West Midlands, 9.3%.
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Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, commented: “Where you’re buying determines what you pay in stamp duty if you’re a first-time buyer. In the North and Midlands, the £300,000 takes nine in 10 first-time buyers out of paying anything extra to buy their home.
“In London and the South East, the cost of buying an average first-time buyer home… is above £300,000 for many buyers, which means the majority of first-time buyers face a stamp duty bill on top of an often sizeable deposit.”
The South East of England, the average cost of a home is £395,000, and 51% of first-time buyers paid stamp duty. And in the East of England, 52% of buyers pay stamp duty, while the average house price is £390,000.
In London, where 79.2% face stamp duties, the median bill for first-time buyers is £8,750.
In Yorkshire and the Humber, the North West, the West Midlands and the East Midlands, the median bill is £2,500.
The South West is the Southern region with the lowest average number of first-time buyers paying stamp duty – at 21.2%. The median bill is on par with the aforementioned Northern regions, at £2,500.
Nearly all London homemovers pay stamp duty
In London, where the median homemover asking price is £600,000, the bill reaches £20,000 – more than 3p in every pound. Some 99.7% of homemovers face a stamp duty bill.
The South East sees the second-largest number of individuals paying stamp duty, at 96.6%. The median cost is £11,250 – 2.7p in every pound.
Zoopla said homemovers account for six in every 10 property purchases. With costs at five figures, some of those moves do not happen. This has a knock-on effect on the supply of starter homes available to first-time buyers.
In the North East, the median homemover bill is £1,500, at 80p to the pound. However, only 63.5% face a stamp duty bill.
Donnell added: “For homemovers, stamp duty is a near-certain cost wherever you live – and in Southern England, it runs to five figures. Six in 10 property purchases are made by existing homeowners.
“When the cost of moving becomes a meaningful friction, some of those moves don’t happen, especially with lower levels of house price inflation in recent years across Southern England.”
