Average Stamp Duty bill, first-time buyer, average Brampton home

£6,000

On a £420,000 purchase. Twelve months ago, the same buyer would have paid nothing.

Stamp Duty in 2026: what first-time buyers in Brampton and Huntingdon are actually paying.

A year on from the threshold reversion, an average Brampton first-time buyer now pays around £6,000 in Stamp Duty. Here's the maths and what to do about it.

By Kye Liddle, Villager Homes

What changed in April 2025.

From 1 April 2025, the first-time buyer Stamp Duty thresholds reverted to their pre-2022 levels. That left every first-time buyer in Cambridgeshire paying meaningfully more for the same property than they would have done a year earlier.

Threshold	Up to 31 Mar 2025	From 1 Apr 2025
First-time buyer zero-rate band	£425,000	£300,000
Maximum property value eligible for relief	£625,000	£500,000
Rate above the zero-rate band	5%	5%

Source: HMRC Stamp Duty Land Tax rates and bands.

What a first-time buyer in the patch actually pays.

Three worked examples, using sold-price averages we publish on our area guides. All assume first-time buyer relief applies and the property is the only residence purchased.

Huntingdon

£345,000

Average sold price

£2,250

First-time buyer SDLT

5% on the £45,000 above the £300k threshold.

Brampton

£420,000

Average sold price

£6,000

First-time buyer SDLT

5% on the £120,000 above the £300k threshold.

Godmanchester

£455,000

Average sold price

£7,750

First-time buyer SDLT

5% on the £155,000 above the £300k threshold.

A first-time buyer in any of these villages whose purchase completed before 1 April 2025 would have paid £0 in Stamp Duty on the same homes (because all three sit under the previous £425,000 threshold). The reversion shifted real money from buyers to the Exchequer, with Rightmove estimating UK first-time buyers have paid around £307 million more in Stamp Duty in the year since.

What to do about it.

If you're buying

Build the SDLT figure into your purchase budget on day one, not at exchange. For an average Brampton home it's a meaningful slice of the deposit you'd otherwise put into the equity. Our calculator gives the figure in 30 seconds; we'd rather you knew before you saw the home.

Open the Stamp Duty calculator

If you're selling

Be ready for first-time-buyer offers that factor SDLT into their affordability properly. A buyer at £420,000 isn't the same buyer they were eighteen months ago; their bank is modelling the £6,000 hit. Pricing competitively still wins, but timing exchange to coincide with their funds release matters more than it used to.

Sources: HMRC Stamp Duty Land Tax thresholds, in force from 1 April 2025; Rightmove first-time buyer SDLT impact estimate; Villager Homes village sold-price averages, refreshed quarterly. This article is general information, not tax advice. Confirm the position for your purchase with your conveyancer.

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