Stamp Duty Receipts Jump £400 Million After Threshold Cut

Stamp duty receipts have risen to £4.6 billion for the April to June 2025 period. This is a £0.4 billion increase from last year, as HMRC statistics indicate. The rise is mainly due to the cuts introduced on 1 April 2025 that reduced the thresholds for residential main rates and the First Time Buyers’ Relief.

These new thresholds have resulted in more transactions being pushed into the taxable bracket, thereby bringing a substantial boost to the Treasury's revenue. The impact was particularly noticeable in April, when the changes took effect for the first time.

Did Stamp Duty Receipts Impact Other Taxes?

Stamp duty was not the only source of the rising revenues. Total gross tax and National Insurance contribution (NICs) receipts for April to June totalled £209.6 billion. This is £11.7 billion above what was collected in the April to June period 2024.

Within this total, Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax and NICs accounted for £120.5 billion, which is a rise of £9.4 billion. Increases in wages and fiscal drag are still powerful drivers of tax revenue; this continued growth suggests that frozen thresholds keep more earners within the higher bands.

Nonetheless, Inheritance Tax raised £2.2 billion during the same period, a rise of £0.1 billion from the previous year. Although not substantially, Inheritance Tax is now bringing in a steady income for HMRC.

What Are Other Sector-Specific Trends in Duties?

Tax receipts in specific duty categories varied greatly. Tobacco and stamp duties grew by 9%, but alcohol duty dropped by 11%. The fall in alcohol duty revenue may reflect changing consumer habits, duty reform effects or slower sales growth in that sector.

Such variations show the importance of having a diverse source of revenue and variability even under duty-based taxation.

Policy Impacts on First-Time Buyers

Recent threshold changes are also now beginning to have an impact upon housing market dynamics, and particularly among first-time buyers. Government analysis estimates that the number of first-time buyer transactions annually between 2025/26 and 2029/30 to be between 4,000 and 6,000 fewer as a result of the threshold reforms.

This anticipated decline would suggest that while the policy will bring short-term receipts, it could have long-term challenges with market accessibility and housing affordability, especially for lower-income households trying to climb onto the property ladder.

Conclusion

With rising revenues across multiple streams, the government is benefitting from recent policy shifts, even as questions remain over their long-term economic and social implications.

As fiscal pressures continue to mount and manifesto pledges limit avenues for major tax increases, minor adjustments like threshold reductions could remain a key strategy, for better or worse.