February brought rise in stamp duty takings

March 28, 2026 by Brendan O'Neill

Surveys and Statistics

The latest figures to be released by HMRC show that February brought a big rise in the takings from stamp duty, in comparison with the previous month.

There was a month-on-month rise of 11% in the stamp duty takings, as the Treasury raked in a total of £995 million from that tax. When looked at on an annual basis, the situation is a bit different though. The stamp duty total for February 2025 was £1 billion, so there was a slight year-on-year drop last month.

Coventry Building Society has carried out an analysis of the stamp duty data for the past few years and it shows that 2025 was a bumper year. The total for the entire 12 months was £15.4 billion, whereas in 2024, it was £13 billion.

While it might seem like this indicates a rise in activity, it is really due to the nil-rate threshold being lowered in April last year. Since the start of the current financial year – also April 2025 – those buying homes have forked out stamp duty of £14 billion.

Jonathan Stinton is employed by Coventry BS as its intermediary relationships head. Talking to Mortgage Solutions, he said the current threshold was out of date in an era of spiralling prices:

“The £125,000 threshold might have seemed appropriate a decade ago, but the average house price has climbed nearly £100,000 since then – meaning more people are pulled into a higher tax band by default rather than design.”

Advisors with the CeMAP qualification would agree with that, as buyers are already facing enough affordability pressures.