By city
Stamp duty in London
The capital is where the first-time buyer cliff at £500,000 decides most bills: here is the tax borough by borough.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
The average London home sold for £550,037 in July 2026, according to the UK House Price Index, and a buyer who will own only that home pays £17,501 of Stamp Duty Land Tax on it. First-time buyers in London paid £466,851 on average, inside the £500,000 limit of the relief, so the typical first purchase costs £8,342 instead of £13,342. That margin is thin: in 12 of the 33 London local authorities the average first-time buyer price is already above £500,000, where the relief vanishes and the full standard bill applies. Home movers paid £693,923 on average, which carries £24,696 of tax, and an investor buying the average flat at £424,013 pays £32,401 at the higher rates. The borough table below applies the same rules to each of the 33 local authorities.
More options: commercial property, company relief
Stamp Duty Land Tax · England and Northern Ireland
£17,501
3.2% of £550,037 · rule applied: Standard residential rates
| Portion | Rate | Tax |
|---|---|---|
| £0 to £125,000 | 0% | £0 |
| £125,000 to £250,000 | 2% | £2,500 |
| £250,000 to £925,000 | 5% | £15,002 |
Return and payment due within 14 days of completion.
Same purchase elsewhere in the UK
Every borough at its average price
Thirty-two boroughs and the City of London, each with its own index. The fourth column is what first-time buyers actually paid there; the fifth applies the relief to that price, and shows the cliff wherever the average passes £500,000.
| Local authority | Average price | SDLT, one home | First-time buyer average | SDLT with relief |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kensington and Chelsea | £1,232,640 | £67,014 | £1,045,054 | £48,255 |
| City of Westminster | £876,788 | £33,839 | £783,995 | £29,199 |
| Camden | £815,159 | £30,757 | £711,980 | £25,599 |
| Richmond upon Thames | £803,249 | £30,162 | £636,085 | £21,804 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | £738,048 | £26,902 | £629,368 | £21,468 |
| City of London | £710,652 | £25,532 | £702,242 | £25,112 |
| Wandsworth | £686,076 | £24,303 | £578,738 | £18,936 |
| Islington | £674,592 | £23,729 | £595,300 | £19,765 |
| Haringey | £638,690 | £21,934 | £539,552 | £16,977 |
| Merton | £615,890 | £20,794 | £509,784 | £15,489 |
| Hackney | £605,729 | £20,286 | £549,012 | £17,450 |
| Barnet | £600,560 | £20,028 | £469,358 | £8,467 |
| Kingston upon Thames | £591,555 | £19,577 | £473,349 | £8,667 |
| Ealing | £585,216 | £19,260 | £490,320 | £9,516 |
| Southwark | £572,478 | £18,623 | £501,031 | £15,051 |
| Brent | £546,135 | £17,306 | £473,234 | £8,661 |
| Lambeth | £536,623 | £16,831 | £471,431 | £8,571 |
| Waltham Forest | £529,102 | £16,455 | £475,702 | £8,785 |
| Harrow | £526,493 | £16,324 | £433,087 | £6,654 |
| Hounslow | £525,435 | £16,271 | £458,624 | £7,931 |
| Bromley | £511,670 | £15,583 | £391,216 | £4,560 |
| Lewisham | £488,658 | £14,432 | £431,343 | £6,567 |
| Redbridge | £481,297 | £14,064 | £414,259 | £5,712 |
| Enfield | £470,988 | £13,549 | £398,455 | £4,922 |
| Hillingdon | £470,875 | £13,543 | £399,975 | £4,998 |
| Greenwich | £462,589 | £13,129 | £408,984 | £5,449 |
| Sutton | £452,654 | £12,632 | £371,597 | £3,579 |
| Havering | £448,648 | £12,432 | £388,533 | £4,426 |
| Tower Hamlets | £447,796 | £12,389 | £428,877 | £6,443 |
| Bexley | £413,343 | £10,667 | £361,301 | £3,065 |
| Newham | £390,349 | £9,517 | £375,238 | £3,761 |
| Croydon | £390,041 | £9,502 | £326,693 | £1,334 |
| Barking and Dagenham | £375,604 | £8,780 | £360,178 | £3,008 |
The £500,000 line in practice
Outside London the cliff concerns few first homes. Here it shapes negotiations: a flat listed at £510,000 costs a first-time buyer £15,500, while the same flat bought at £500,000 costs £10,000. Ten thousand pounds off the price saves £5,500 of tax on top. Before 1 April 2025 the relief ran to £625,000, and the return to £500,000 is the change that reaches the most first-time buyers in the capital, where 12 local authorities now average above the line.
Flats, terraces and family houses
| Home | Average price | First-time buyer | One home | Additional property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flat or maisonette | £424,013 | £6,200 | £11,200 | £32,401 |
| Terraced house | £642,452 | £22,122 | £22,122 | £54,245 |
| Semi-detached house | £724,106 | £26,205 | £26,205 | £62,410 |
| Detached house | £1,167,718 | £60,521 | £60,521 | £118,907 |
| All sales | £550,037 | £17,501 | £17,501 | £45,003 |
A London semi averages £724,106 and a terrace £642,452, both deep in the 5% band, which runs to £925,000. Detached houses average £1,167,718, enough to reach the 10% band, so each extra £10,000 there costs £1,000 in tax.
Investors and companies
A London buy-to-let flat at the average price pays £32,401 with the 5% surcharge. Above £500,000 a company without a relief pays 17% of the whole price: £102,000 on a £600,000 flat, against £50,000 if it lets the flat as a business. See company purchases.