Such a reform would remove the tax burden entirely for more than 225,000 people looking to get on the housing ladder every year, the building society said, saving them an average of £3,791. Londoners, it added, would save the most at £13,171. Those moving up the property ladder would also stand to benefit, it said, saving £4,093 on average, rising to £9,762 in London.

Stamp duty currently generates £7.8bn per year for the public purse, and the building society claims making stamp duty payable by sellers would see government receive similar tax receipts from the residential property market.

It would, however, ‘boost property sales towards the bottom of the market’, it adds in a in a formal submission to the government on what should be included in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement due on 23 November 2016.

Stamp duty on residential property is zero-rated up to a value of £125,000; 2% £125,001-£250,000; 5% £250,001-£925,000; 10% £925,001-£1.5m and; 12% £1.5m or more.

Andrew McPhillips, chief economist at Yorkshire Building Society, said: "The prime minister has pledged to make intergenerational support a key measure of her government’s housing agenda and this measure could achieve exactly that.

"This will not solve every cause of the housing crisis but reforming stamp duty could ease its effects by making homes more affordable."

The Yorkshire Building Society's stamp duty reform report can be read here.