Introduced as part of the Chancellor's proposals in the 2017 UK Budget, the FTBR (First Time Buyers Relief) removed stamp duty completely for people making their first property purchase as long as the price was no more than £300,000. The relief also cut stamp duty to 5 percent for property priced between £300,000 and £500,000.
In the first year of the relief's introduction 218,900 property transactions took advantage of the savings offered. £521 million pounds was saved by these first-time buyers due to the use of the FTBR.
Londoner's and those in the South-East retained £256 million in saved stamp duty, saving on average, £4,300. On average £2,400 per property purchase was saved in the rest of the country. The lowest amount saved per person was in Northern Ireland at £800.
Due in part to the provision of the new relief, actual stamp duty intake by the Revenue dropped by nearly £905 million in the same year. The remainder of the drop attributed to Wales receiving any Welsh Stamp Duty and a fall in property sales priced over £1 million.
Welsh Stamp Duty however only accounted for £15 million in stamp duty. In comparison, London generated £4.5 billion in stamp duty taxes, with Westminster attributed to as the largest source of revenue.
Property valued above £250,000 accounted for the bulk of transactions, 59 percent, whereas those priced below £250,000 made up only 9 percent of transactions.