London homebuyers have paid nearly £25bn in Stamp Duty over the last decade
The latest research from Jefferies London shows that, as many await news of potential Stamp Duty reform in the upcoming Autumn Budget, homebuyers across the capital have collectively paid almost £25bn (£24.9bn) in Stamp Duty over the last ten years, with buyers in prime central London contributing the largest share by a considerable margin.
Jefferies London analysed every primary residential transaction recorded by the Land Registry* across London over the last decade, calculating the Stamp Duty paid by buyers in each borough to reveal the staggering sums handed to the Treasury simply for purchasing a property in the capital.
The analysis shows that across London as a whole, homebuyers have forked out £24.9bn in stamp duty over the last 10 years, with this figure not even accounting for the tax paid on second home purchases.
Westminster tops the list, with homebuyers paying £3.30bn in SDLT over the last decade. Kensington and Chelsea follows closely behind at £2.99bn, cementing the two boroughs’ position as the most heavily taxed areas in the entire country when it comes to property purchases.
Wandsworth ranks third with £1.86bn in SDLT collected over ten years, followed by Camden (£1.39bn) and Hammersmith and Fulham (£1.17bn).
Richmond upon Thames also sits firmly in the top tier with £1.14bn, while Barnet has generated £1.08bn in SDLT receipts, demonstrating how London’s high values have driven huge tax intake far beyond the traditional prime core.
Across the wider capital, every London borough has contributed hundreds of millions in SDLT since 2015, with even the lowest-taxed boroughs – Barking and Dagenham (£84.7m) and the City of London (£112m) – still generating significant sums relative to their size and transaction volumes.
However, it is clear that prime London buyers have been hit hardest, with Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea alone accounting for more than £6.2bn between them. These buyers have consistently faced the steepest charges, particularly following successive SDLT reforms that disproportionately penalised high-value and additional property purchases.
Damien, Founder of Jefferies London, commented:
“With almost £25bn paid in Stamp Duty over the last decade, London’s homebuyers have shouldered an extraordinary tax burden, and nowhere is this more evident than in the prime market.
Buyers in boroughs such as Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea have contributed vast sums simply for the right to purchase a home, and this has had a long-term dampening effect on activity at the top of the market.
With so much discussion ahead of the Autumn Budget, many will be hoping for a more balanced approach that encourages movement rather than penalises it. A reformed system that supports transactions, instead of restricting them, would be a welcome shift for both buyers and sellers across the capital.”
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