The total number of tax receipts for stamp duty between April and October was £4.1bn higher compared to the same period last year, new HMRC figures have confirmed.

Overall receipts between April and October 2021 hit £10.2bn.

HMRC suggested that lower receipts in the 2020/21 tax year is mainly due to a fall in property sales, market uncertainties surrounding the pandemic as well as the introduction of the government’s stamp duty holiday.

Across all taxes, HMRC collected £392bn between April and October this year, the first half of the current tax year, which is a figure up 34% from the same period a year earlier, an increase worth £99.8bn.

Commenting on the data, Hargreaves Lansdown personal finance analyst, Sarah Coles, said: “It’s difficult to compare tax years, because the government brought in a set of rules to try to make it easier to manage tax bills, and another set to get us to spend more money and buy more property.

“However, we can see the enormous impact of the stamp duty holiday. It has pushed the average house price to a record high of £270,000 – up £28,000 in a year, and driven transactions higher. This year we had the busiest ever September in the property market, as buyers rushed for the final stamp duty holiday deadline.

“In terms of stimulating the market and generating tax, the move was clearly effective. However, if you’re trying to get onto the property ladder, or move up it, the impact is likely to be far less welcome. As the tax break dies away, buyers now have nothing to gain from the short-term measure, and in the process it has made the challenge of buying a home even harder.”

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