Stamp duty on a £650,000 home

Calculate your stamp duty

This is just an estimate!

Tax rules change all the time and everyone’s circumstances are different, so don’t take anything on this page as advice! When it’s time to buy, speak to your solicitor for advice on stamp duty.

How is stamp duty calculated on a £650,000 home?

How much stamp duty you pay depends on a few things:

• Where in the UK you’re buying: England & Northern Ireland, Scotland, or Wales
• Whether you’re a first time buyer
• If you’re buying an additional property (for example, to let out or use as a holiday home)
• The value of your property

First time buyer stamp duty rates

In England and Northern Ireland, first time buyers get a discount on stamp duty, as long as the property is worth £500,000 or less. You pay no tax on the first £300,000, then 5% on the portion from £300,001 to £500,000.

In Scotland, first time buyers get a discount on LBTT: You pay no tax on the first £175,000 of the property price, rather than the standard £145,000. And if your property is more expensive, you still benefit from the tax relief. More about LBTT for first time buyers.

In Wales, first time buyers don’t get any LTT relief, unlike in England and Scotland where you get some relief on stamp duty and LBTT.

England & Northern Ireland SDLT (stamp duty) rates

Stamp Duty Land Tax (most people just call it ‘stamp duty’) is calculated in ‘bands’, which means you pay different rates on different ‘portions’ of the property price.

Here’s an example for a property worth £650,000:

• You’ll pay 0% on the first £125,000 = £0
• You’ll pay 2% on the next £125,000 = £2,500
• Then 5% on the next £400,000 = £20,000

Total stamp duty = £22,500

You can also use the GOV.UK calculator for SDLT in England and Northern Ireland.

Scotland stamp duty rates (LBTT rate)

The equivalent of stamp duty in Scotland is the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, or LBTT. It’s calculated in ‘bands’, which means you pay different rates on different ‘portions’ of the property price.

Here’s an example for a property worth £300,000:

• You’ll pay 0% on the first £145,000 = £0
• Then 2% on the next £105,000 = £2,100
• Finally, 5% on the last £50,000 = £2,500

Total LBTT = £4,600

You can also use Revenue Scotland's LBTT calculator.

Wales stamp duty rates (LTT Rate)

The equivalent of stamp duty in Wales is the Land Transaction Tax, or LTT. It’s calculated in ‘bands’, which means you pay different rates on different ‘portions’ of the property price.

Here’s an example for a property worth £300,000:

• You’ll pay 0% on the first £225,000 = £0
• Then 6% on the next £75,000 = £4,500

Total LBTT = £4,500

You can also use the Welsh Revenue Authority's LBTT calculator.

Buy to let (or additional property) stamp duty rates

If you’re buying an additional property (for example, a place to let), you might need to pay more stamp duty. Stamp duty for additional properties is calculated in ‘bands’, which means you pay different rates on different ‘portions’ of the property price.

Here are the stamp duty rates for England and Northern Ireland. (You can find the rates for Wales here and Scotland here).

Here’s an example, for a buy-to-let property worth £650,000:

• You’ll pay 5% on the first £125,000 = £6,250
• You’ll pay 7% on the next £125,000 = £8,750
• Then 10% on the next £400,000 = £40,000

Total stamp duty = £55,000

Can I add stamp duty to my mortgage?

If you’ve forgotten to factor the costs of stamp duty, you could use some of your deposit to pay, if you can afford to.

You might be able to borrow more on your mortgage to cover the costs of stamp duty, but you’ll have to reduce your deposit so that the deposit and mortgage add up to the purchase price.

Usually, it’s not a good idea to increase your mortgage this way, and better to pay stamp duty from the savings you have, if possible. That’s because adding stamp duty to your mortgage means you’d need to borrow more money on your mortgage. And that has two effects:

1. It could raise your mortgage interest rate. That’s to do with your loan to value (LTV). LTV is a percentage showing how much of the property value you’re borrowing. The lower your LTV (meaning, the lower your mortgage is as a percent of the total property value), the lower interest rates you get.

   Adding your stamp duty to your mortgage would increase your loan to value ratio, so you might have to pay more interest on your mortgage – which could increase your monthly mortgage payments.

2. It could mean you end up paying far more stamp duty in the long term. Your mortgage term (the years you’ll take to pay back your mortgage) is usually around 25 years. If you add stamp duty to your mortgage, it means you’ll have to pay back interest on that amount over all those years – and that could add up to thousands.

   Get advice from your mortgage broker before you make a decision – they can help you figure out all the numbers and see which option is right for you.