If you have been thinking about selling or buying a home, then the announcement of George Osborne’s stamp duty reforms could be just the prompt that you needed to get your next adventure under way.

The Chancellor announced in the recent Autumn Statement made to the Commons that 98 per cent of all home-buyers will now have to pay less stamp duty as a result of the reforms.

The changes mean that instead of the amount of duty paid jumping when properties reach a certain price level, buyers will now pay a graduated rate of tax that works in a way that is similar to how income tax is calculated.

Some critics have accused the Chancellor of pure ‘electioneering’, but both buyers and sellers are already making the most of having to pay less tax.

There are reports of sellers being able to demand higher prices for their homes, safe in the knowledge that prospective buyers will not have to keep so much aside to pay their duty. Buyers are also finding that they can afford to spend more on the actual price of a property as a result of the taxation change.

The Autumn Statement gave Mr Osborne the chance to give an update on the country’s finances and to announce future spending and taxation plans. The previous Labour government called it a pre-Budget report.

The old stamp duty system had long been criticised for being unfair and restrictive. It used to be that a person purchasing a property for £125,000 was not eligible to pay any tax, but if they spent just £1 more they would have had to pay one per cent, the equivalent of £1,250. The same practice continued as property values increased. A person buying a home would have paid one per cent or £2,500 on a £250,000 property, but £1 more would have seen the rate rise to three per cent – triple the amount.

Under the new system, no one will have to pay any tax for the first £125,000. They will then owe two per cent on the value between £125,000 and £259,000 and five per cent on the amount up to £925,000. Wealthy buyers will pay ten per cent on the value up to a maximum of £1.5 million and 12 per cent on all amounts in excess of this.

The changes took effect just hours after Mr Osborne’s announcement, so buyers and sellers can benefit right now.

Property experts say that as a result of the changes only those who are spending in excess of £937,500 will be eligible to pay more tax than they would have had to before.

The changes could well prove to be particularly beneficial for first-time buyers, as they will reduce the amount that they have to pay out up-front.

If you want to work out how much stamp duty you will owe on your next property purchase, why not use the stamp duty calculator, or call Keywest on 0116 254 4555? One of our property experts will be delighted to help.