Receipts for stamp duty from April to October this year came to £12.4bn, the latest government figures reveal. 

This is £2.2bn more than the same period last year.

The government says its “recent growth plan announcement on cutting [stamp duty] for those purchasing a residential property will largely be reflected in receipts from October.”

So far this year homebuyers have paid out a total of £13.3bn in stamp duty, which represents an increase of 1.7% compared to the same period last year.

Coventry Building Society says the figures also mark a record-breaking year for stamp duty receipts with two months to go before the year ends. 

The total amount of stamp duty paid in 2021 totalled £13.1bn.

Coventry analysis shows that in the last three years, December has been the month which has seen the highest amount of stamp duty paid.

The lender says that if this trend continues homebuyers will have paid billions more this year than ever before.

Last week, chancellor Jeremy Hunt last week confirmed in the Autumn Statement that the stamp duty cuts announced in the September mini-Budget will end on 31 March 2025. 

Coventry Building Society head of intermediary relationships Jonathan Stinton comments: “Ten months into this year and homebuyers have already paid more stamp duty than ever before.”

With December historically being a high-paying month for stamp duty, Stinton says it “seems safe to assume that, even with the cuts effective from September, 2022 is going to set an almighty record for the amount homeowners have paid in property tax”.

Stinton suggests that the total amount homebuyers spend on stamp duty “should reduce next year as the new thresholds lighten the tax bill for many homebuyers, it’s just a pity that these thresholds are now going to be temporary”.  

“When March 2025 comes around it will be disappointing to simply revert to the previous thresholds which were set back in 2014. They’ll be over a decade old and therefore out of touch with how the market has shifted.”

He calls for the rules on stamp duty to be “modernised to reflect the challenges homebuyers are facing today”. 

“The government shouldn’t underestimate how much impact these changes could have. The stamp duty holiday in 2020-2021, and the subsequent boom in property transactions, shows how influential stamp duty can be. Ministers should see it as a valuable tool to help shape the market to create better outcomes for everyone.”