According to Zoopla’s latest house price index, 1.2m properties in the UK have moved above the initial £125,000 stamp duty threshold as house prices have risen around £29,000, or 13%, since March 2020 with an 8.3% rise in the last year alone.

As buyers pay 2% of stamp duty between £125,000 to £250,000, the Treasury looks set to see a minimum increase of at least £3bn if those 1.2m houses are sold at the entry rate of £125,001.

Since the average house price in the UK sits at a record level of £292,000, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in January 2022, the Treasury will almost certainly see that extra £3bn in its coffers.

The latest HMRC stamp duty data revealed that in the first quarter of 2022, residential property transactions were 13% lower than they were in Q4 2021, and of the 244,200 residential homes bought, only 43,700 received first time buyer relief, while 27,300 were below the tax threshold altogether.