Conservatives to abolish Stamp Duty on homes

Today [Wednesday 8^th October 2025] Leader of the Conservative Party Kemi Badenoch MP has announced that the next Conservative Government will fully abolish Stamp Duty on the purchase of primary residences, as part of our plan to build a stronger economy.  

In her Leader's address today, Badenoch set out that the Conservatives are the true party of home ownership and believe in the dignity and stability that it provides.  

Under Kemi Badenoch's leadership, we want to support the public in taking the first step to building a family, building wealth, and building communities that last, which is why Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) – paid when you buy a residential property – will be abolished entirely on primary residences.  

This policy will apply irrespective of purchase price for primary residences. It will not apply to additional properties, properties purchased by companies, or by non-UK residents. It will not apply to Scotland or Wales where separate taxation exists. 

Under Labour, Stamp Duty has been increased this year, including for first-time buyers, as the higher thresholds introduced by the Conservatives were discontinued. Currently buyers have to pay stamp duty on properties worth more than £125,000, but the SDLT levels, and thresholds for the higher bands, were set in 2014, and will still be in place in 2030, despite years of inflation.  

This stealth tax – fiscal drag – is sucking more and more people into paying the tax, and pushing more people into paying at the higher rates. 

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned about the damaging impacts of Stamp Duty, saying that: “in a crowded field, SDLT has a claim to be the most economically damaging tax in the UK. It makes both housing and labour markets less efficient, acting as a drag on growth. It should be reduced or – even better – abolished, and certainly not increased”. 

And yet Rachel Reeves is planning to raise ever more money from SDLT by freezing thresholds. Revenue from SDLT on residential property is set to have doubled between 2023-24 and 2029-30 making home ownership even harder – particularly for young people looking to get on the property ladder for the first time. It also affects elderly people looking to downsize.  

That is why the Conservatives are setting out a different approach.  

The Conservatives are dedicating some of the £47 billion in savings announced earlier this week to supporting aspiration and giving the next generation a stake in our society, and our democracy.  

According to the IFS, abolishing Stamp Duty on people's primary residence would cost around £4.5 billion at present.  But due to the dramatic tax increase Rachel Reeves is planning the Conservatives have cautiously costed the abolition of the tax at £9 billion in 2029-30. A proportion of this cost would be offset by increased revenue from other taxes, due to greater transactions and productivity impacts of labour mobility. These positive impacts are not factored into the cautious costing. 

Alongside existing spending commitments from the Conservative Party, this means £21 billion of the £47 billion in savings have been allocated to key priorities [a full scorecard is included below].  

This leaves up to £26 billion for deficit reduction – in keeping with Kemi Badenoch's golden rule for the public finances, that at least half of all savings will be spent on deficit reduction and the rest on tax cuts and other priorities. 

SDLT is devolved in Scotland and Wales, so it would be up to the administrations there whether to replicate the cut or not.                         

The Conservatives are taking this step to ensure that people can secure a stake in society, their communities and their country.  

It also ensures that the generational contract continues, where young and old people alike benefit and each generation passes on more than they inherited.  

This measure is not just a moral good, but an economic good too.  

It would remove artificial restrictions on the property market – restrictions that stop working people taking jobs or relocating where they need to for employment, or that stop older people from downsizing and freeing up larger properties for families.  

It would lead to a more efficient market with a better use of our housing stock able to respond more dynamically to demand, not to arbitrary tax constraints.  

This measure will push up economic activity with every transaction boosting activity: from movers to builders, retailers to decorators.  

It represents the commitment of the Conservative Party to deliver a stronger economy for the British public. 

In her speech today, Kemi Badenoch MP said:   

“As the Conservative party, we know who our people are. 

They are people who work hard. 

They are the people who save hard. 

They are the people who understand the importance of putting down roots. 

They are the people who make sacrifices today for a better life tomorrow. 

They do the right thing. 

Our people are the Brits who want to get ahead in life. 

At the heart of a Conservative Britain is a country where people who wish to own their own home, can. 

[...] 

We Conservatives believe that owning your own home gives you a real stake in society, roots in your community. 

But our housing market is not working as it should.  

Because there's a big barrier that keeps getting in the way. 

That barrier, Conference, is the tax you have to pay when you buy your home. 

You all know that barrier is stamp duty. 

Young people trapped in the pain of renting. 

Workers who want to further their career. 

Pensioners who want to downsize but can't afford the thousands of pounds they have to pay in tax. 

Conference, the next Conservative Government will abolish stamp duty on your home. It will be gone. 

That is how we will help achieve the dream of home ownership for millions. 

[...] 

And this change will bring wider benefits to our economy, too, because every time a home is sold it triggers a chain reaction of activity. 

Movers, builders, decorators. 

Flat pack furniture and DIY. 

Trips to Next, John Lewis and IKEA.   

And I can afford to do this while still leaving space within my golden economic rule.   

Because that's the fiscally prudent way to do things.  

That's what Conservatives do.” 

ENDS 

Notes to Editors 

• According to the IFS abolishing Stamp Duty on primary residences would cost around £4.5 billion at present. ‘You could abolish it entirely for residential properties at a cost of about £9 billion next year. Around half that sum would pay to get rid of it for owners' primary residences only.' (IFS, Article, 22 January 2024, link). 

• The IFS have argued that it should be abolished: “in a crowded field, SDLT has a claim to be the most economically damaging tax in the UK. It makes both housing and labour markets less efficient, acting as a drag on growth. It should be reduced or – even better – abolished, and certainly not increased”. (IFS, Green Budget 2024, link)

• The average house price for England was £292,000 in July 2025.  This is an increase from £189,606 in July 2014. (ONS, Private Rent and House Prices, September 2025 - link; Land Registry, House Price Index, October 2025, link) 

• Even with the impact of the reliefs Conservatives put in place, the number of people liable to pay stamp duty has been just under 600,000 a year, over the period 2021-22 to 2024-5. But because thresholds are frozen, this number is set to grow sharply. (HMRC, Quarterly Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) statistics, link) 

• More people are set to be dragged into paying stamp duty... The number of people not liable to pay because their transaction was below £125,000 fell from 357,000 when the current thresholds were set in 2013/14 to just 90,200 in 2024/25. That's a decline from 31.6 per cent to 8.6 per cent, and is set to fall further with thresholds falling behind inflation over this parliament.  (HMRC, Quarterly Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) statistics, link) 

• ... and more people will be dragged into paying higher rates. In 2006-07, 82 per cent of residential transactions were below £250,000. In 2013-14 when the current thresholds were set, it was 75 per cent. But by 2023-24 it was just 48 per cent, and this is set to fall further over the course of this parliament. (HMG, UK Stamp Tax Statistics 2023 to 2024, 5 December 2024, link). 

• Revenue from SDLT on residential property is set to have almost doubled between 2023-24 and 2029-30 (OBR, Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2025, Detailed Forecast Tables: Receipts, Table 3.7, 26 March 2025,  link).

• Over the last three years 97 per cent of transactions were for less than a million. (HMG, UK Stamp Tax Statistics 2023 to 2024, 5 December 2024, link). 
• If you are not a first time buyer and you buy a house worth £300,000 you will currently pay £5,000. If it costs £500,000 you will pay £15,000. If it costs £900,000 you will pay £35,000. 

Stamp Duty is a bad tax which damages investment, reduces labour mobility and harms home ownership   

• A 2017 study by the London School of Economics found that SDLT cuts housing investment. ‘SDLT contributes to reduced household mobility. Having bought a home, people are unwilling to move again soon and ‘waste money' by paying SDLT twice over. This is costly for individual households as they are less likely to take up new job opportunities (or, if they do, may need to commute long distances); it is costly for the economy because it inhibits the efficient allocation of labour, and both consumer expenditure and housing investment are lower than they otherwise would be.' (LSE, Is Stamp Duty Land Tax suffocating the English Housing Market? November 2017, link) 

• Paul Johnson said stamp duty is ‘among our worst and most damaging taxes' which ‘gums up' the housing market and reduces labour mobility. ‘Against stiff competition, it is among our worst and most damaging taxes; it gums up the housing market, keeps people who don't need them in houses that are too big for them, thus reducing the supply available to growing families; and it serves to reduce labour mobility' (IFS, Article, 22 January 2024, link). 

• Torsten Bell MP, Labour's Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, said ‘stamp duties are bad taxes'. (Resolution Foundation, 3 January 2019, link).  

• The Treasury Select Committee said that SDLT should be a ‘priority for reform'. A 2021 report by the Commons Treasury Select Committee concluded that:‘There was widespread agreement among witnesses that stamp duty land tax is economically inefficient, causing damage to the economy by affecting when and how often people buy homes. This in turn has implications for the flexibility of labour markets and for economic activity: a reduction in the volume of house transactions leads to a corresponding reduction in associated economic activity, such as home renovation and refurbishment. The Government should treat stamp duty land tax as a priority for reform”. (Treasury Select Committee, Tax After Coronavirus, March 2021, link) 

• Dan Neidle of Tax Policy Associates said ‘Stamp duty is a terrible tax' which distorts the housing market, and holds economic growth. ‘It reduces transactions, distorts the housing market, and often stops people moving when they want to. Stamp duty makes it harder to borrow from a bank (because the stamp duty is “lost value”). All of this means it reduces labour mobility, results in inefficient use of land, and plausibly holds back economic growth...It also makes people miserable.' (Tax Policy Associates, 9 June 2024, link). 

• Dr Arun Advani, Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick, said stamp duty ‘does not really make any sense': “I agree with what has been said by essentially everybody at this point, which is that stamp duty does not really make any sense as a transactions tax.” (Evidence to Treasury Select Committee, 2021, link)  

Annex: Overall scorecard