Horsham one of biggest winners under new stamp duty system

Home-buyers could save on average £1,894 per sale in the Horsham district, placing the area tenth on the list of winners as published by the paper.

Stamp duty reforms were announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in the Autumn Statement last Wednesday, calculating the tax on a sliding scale.

Buyers of properties worth under £1m are expected to benefit, saving up to £4,999 on homes just over £250,000.

First-time buyers could also gain from the change, as the first £125,000 is now tax exempt. For example, a house sold at £125,001 will have a stamp duty of just 2p instead of the previous figure of £1,250.01.

On the other end of the scale, London buyers are some of the biggest losers in the tax change due to a higher proportion of properties over the £1m mark. Hardest hit is the borough of Kensington and Chelsea with an average increase of £42,387 per sale.

Mr Osborne claimed that 98 percent of house-buyers would benefit under the new rules.