Figures from HMRC suggested the increase was partly due to the increase in the higher rate on additional dwellings (HRAD) surcharge, which was raised from 3% to 5% at last year’s Autumn Budget.
The organisation also attributed the rise to “forestalling effects”, where people aimed to complete purchases before the stamp duty threshold changed in April.
There was a 21% rise in residential stamp duty receipts from £8.6bn to £10.4bn year-on-year, alongside a 20% increase in residential transactions to 1.05 million.
HMRC said receipts were concentrated in Southern England, partially due to higher property prices.
London had the highest value of stamp duty receipts of any region, at £5.5bn, and the capital accounted for 37% of all stamp duty land tax receipts.
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Northern Ireland generated the lowest value of stamp duty receipts, at £110m, representing 1% of all intake.
Additional dwelling stamp duty receipts surge
HMRC found that the receipts for HRAD transactions were £5.4bn, 19% higher than the last financial year.
Some 211,700 transactions were subject to the HRAD surcharge in 2024-25, with the surcharge element generating £2.8bn.
London, the South East and East of England were the top three regions for HRAD receipts, totalling £3.7bn and representing 68% of all HRAD receipts.
Further, there were 19% more HRAD transactions in 2024-25, also due to buyers completing before the stamp duty threshold change.
Numerous areas recorded a gross increase in HRAD receipts, ranging from 10% in London, rising from £2bn to £2.3bn, and 38% in Northern Ireland, jumping from £40m to £55m.
Areas with the highest share of HRAD transactions were concentrated in Northern Ireland and Northern England, while the North East had the highest proportion of HRAD transactions.
Nearly half of transactions for properties less than £250k
Residential stamp duty transactions, where the property was worth £250,000 or less, made up 44% of all transactions. This was a 4% decline from the previous year.
Some 6% of all residential stamp duty receipts in 2024-25 came from properties valued at £250,000 or less, a 1% rise on the year before.
Some 3% of residential transactions were properties worth £1m and more, flat on the year before, and these properties represented 41% of all residential stamp duty receipts, a 3% fall on the previous year.
Most residential properties were purchased by people, accounting for 88% of transactions, similar to the previous year.
A fifth of residential properties worth over £2m were purchased by companies, partnerships and collective investment schemes – or non-natural persons – in 2024-25, 5% lower than the year before.
Non-natural persons paying the single rate of stamp duty on residential transactions rose 44% from £45m to £65m.
Value of first-time buyer relief rises
Some £772m in stamp duty was relieved by first-time buyers in 2024-25, an increase of £232m on the last year. This was attributed to the stamp duty threshold change.
London and the South East represented £453m of the relief, 59% of the total amount.
Some 155,400 transactions benefitted from First-Time Buyers’ Relief, 37% higher than the year before.
The national average relieved per transaction was £5,000. London had the highest average at £7,000, while the East Midlands and Northern Ireland had the lowest at £3,200.
Stamp duty tax burden weighs on buyers
Ian Futcher, financial planner at Quilter, said the figures showed a “relatively resilient” market in terms of transactions, but showed that the tax burden on buyers grew.
He noted that receipts rose 21% annually, even though house prices were broadly flat.
“First-time buyers illustrate this tension most clearly. Claims for First Time Buyers’ Relief jumped by 37% as many rushed to complete before the thresholds tightened in April, securing an average tax saving of around £5,000. However, mortgage rates have since fallen from the levels seen in late 2024 and early 2025. For those who made a knee-jerk decision to purchase under the old rules, the upfront tax saving may now be overshadowed by the fact that they locked into borrowing when rates were materially higher. In some cases, the additional annual interest cost could quickly erode, or even exceed, the saving they secured, meaning the timing of the purchase may not ultimately have delivered the benefit they hoped for.”
Futcher said the pressure on landlords and second-home buyers had “intensified”.
He said: “Receipts from the higher rates on additional dwellings climbed by almost a fifth after the surcharge increased from 3% to 5%, taking the total to more than £5.4bn. For many investors, the tax landscape is now so onerous that the financial rationale for purchasing a property has weakened considerably, contributing to sluggish turnover in parts of the country.
“For anyone considering a move, these figures highlight the importance of viewing stamp duty as a central part of affordability rather than an afterthought. With surcharges higher, reliefs tighter and mortgage rates still elevated by historic[al] standards, buyers need a clear understanding of both the upfront tax costs and the longer-term mortgage implications before committing. The housing market has held up better than some expected, but it has done so in spite of the tax environment, not because of it, and thoughtful planning has never been more important.”
