The UK’s stamp duty free property hotspots for homes under £500k

The latest research by lettings and estate agent, Benham and Reeves, has found that London, Manchester and Birmingham are home to the largest outright number of homes listed for sale at £500,000 or less.

Belfast, Swansea and Aberdeen are the cities with the largest proportion of property stock listed at £500,000 or less as a percentage of all homes listed for sale.

London is also home to the largest number of pending sales due to benefit immediately from the stamp duty holiday.

Benham and Reeves looked at current property stock levels listed for sale on Rightmove across 23 major UK cities to see how many were for sale within the new stamp duty free threshold of £500,000.

Benham and Reeves also looked at which city was home to the highest percentage of stock in this price range and which has the most homes sold subject to contract or under offer, to see where would enjoy the most immediate stamp duty free boost for homebuyers.

Major UK Cities

The figures show that London (42,422), Manchester (7,365) and Birmingham (7,011) are home to the highest levels of outright property stock currently for sale at £500,000 or less. Liverpool, Bristol, Nottingham and Glasgow also ranked amongst the highest.

London also ranks as the city where homebuyers are due to see the most immediate benefit. Of the 42,422 homes listed for sale, 16,409 are already sold subject to contract or under offer. Manchester (3,498) and Bristol (3,475) also rank high in this respect.

Belfast, Aberdeen and Swansea are home to the lowest total level of property stock at the £500,000 or below price threshold. However, in terms of homeowners benefiting from a stamp duty free purchase, these cities are home to the highest proportion of homes under £500,000 as a percentage of all properties listed for sale.

In Belfast, all homes currently listed for sale fall below the new stamp duty threshold, while in Swansea, 98% of homes are listed for sale below £500,000, falling to 97% in Aberdeen.

London Boroughs

In London, Croydon is the borough set to see homebuyers benefit the most from the recent changes to stamp duty. There are currently 3,492 homes listed for sale at or below the £500,000 threshold, the most of all London boroughs. Bromley (2,370) and Having (2,218) are also home to some of the largest total stock levels at this price threshold.

These three boroughs are also home to the largest number of homes already sold subject to contract or under offer, with homebuyers due to see the most immediate benefit.

The City of London is currently home to the lowest number of homes for sale at this price threshold (25).

However, when it comes to the borough with the most homes for sale at £500,000 or less, Barking and Dagenham tops the list. 97% of all homes currently listed for sale in the borough fall within the new 0% stamp duty threshold, with Bexley the next best bet at 83%.

Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, commented:

“Breaking down the current property stock available on the market really gives us a good idea as to just how many people are due to benefit from the changes to stamp duty announced last week.

The figures show that the vast majority of homebuyers will be better off as a result. Even in London, there will be a considerable saving for a vast number of those transacting across almost every borough.

However, there is a chance that savvy home-sellers who may have seen the value of their property slump due to the recent pandemic will now increase their asking price by that little bit extra.

Our advice to homebuyers would be to know your market, stick to your guns when making an offer, and keep your stamp duty saving in your back pocket. You can use it as a bargaining chip should you need it further down the line when negotiating, but don’t be forced to over offer straight away.”