How many first-time buyers pay stamp duty in 2026?
New research from Zoopla, based on homebuyer enquiries across England in the first half of 2026, finds that only 38% of first-time buyers nationally now pay any stamp duty, since the first £300,000 of a first-time buyer's purchase is tax-free and most homes still come in under that mark. But the picture splits sharply by region: fewer than one in ten first-time buyers in the North East pay anything, rising to 51% in the South East and 52% in the East of England, where the average taxed purchase price is close to £390,000.
Richard Donnell, Zoopla's executive director, put it simply: "Where you're buying determines what you pay in stamp duty if you're a first-time buyer."
Why does Huntingdonshire not match the regional figure?
The East of England average is pulled upward by Cambridge, Hertfordshire and Essex commuter towns, where first-time buyer prices routinely clear £400,000. Huntingdonshire doesn't sit in that bracket. According to ONS Price Paid data, the average Huntingdonshire first-time buyer paid £251,000 in January 2026, roughly £49,000 under the £300,000 threshold. For most first-time buyers in Huntingdon, Brampton, Godmanchester and St Ives, and across the wider patch villages, that means a bill of £0. It only starts to bite on the larger three and four-bedroom family homes toward the top of the local market, or for anyone buying toward Cambridge itself, where first-time buyer prices average £394,000 and a stamp duty bill is close to guaranteed.
What about people moving up the ladder, not buying first?
This is where the regional divide bites hardest. Zoopla finds 95% of South East home movers now pay stamp duty, at an average of £11,250, or 2.7 pence in every pound of the purchase. Across southern England as a whole, households contributed £10.6bn of stamp duty revenue between 2024 and 2025, against under £2bn from the North. Huntingdonshire movers pay less than that South East average, since local prices are lower, but the standard nil-rate band for movers is only £125,000, far below the £300,000 first-time buyer relief, so most people trading up in the patch do pay something on the move.
Is stamp duty about to change?
No further changes to stamp duty rates have been announced for the rest of 2026; the bands in force since April 2025 remain the current rules, as set out on GOV.UK's stamp duty rates page. There is ongoing discussion in Westminster about wider property tax reform, but nothing has been legislated, so the numbers above are the ones to plan a purchase around today.
What should patch buyers do now?
If you're a first-time buyer looking in Huntingdonshire, the practical takeaway is that the national headlines about a stamp duty squeeze mostly describe somewhere else; run your specific purchase price through the stamp duty calculator before you assume a bill either way. If you're selling and weighing whether now is the right time to list, a free valuation gives you a current price to work the maths from, and our Brampton estate agents team can talk through what a move actually costs, stamp duty included, before you commit to anything.
Figures in this article are current as of July 2026 and may change if stamp duty rules are reformed. This article is general information, not tax advice; for a purchase-specific calculation, speak to your conveyancer.