First-Time Buyer Stamp Duty in England's Metro Boroughs
In 33 of England's 36 metropolitan boroughs, a first-time buyer purchasing at the local median price in 2025 paid no stamp duty at all. The reason is arithmetic, not luck: the median recorded sale price in those boroughs falls below the £300,000 threshold at which first-time buyer relief begins to taper — so the whole purchase sits inside the nil-rate band.
That is close to the mirror image of London, where most boroughs sit above the £500,000 ceiling at which first-time buyer relief disappears completely.
This piece sets out, borough by borough, where the typical first-time buyer's bill lands — drawn from 132,280 residential sales recorded across the 36 metropolitan boroughs in 2025 (HM Land Registry Price Paid Data).
How the £300,000 threshold works
First-time buyer relief in England applies to someone who has never owned a home before and is buying their only or main residence. Under the rules that took effect on 1 April 2025:
- Up to £300,000 — no Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT).
- £300,001 to £500,000 — 5% on the slice above £300,000.
- Above £500,000 — the relief is lost completely, and the purchase is taxed at standard rates from £125,000 up (HMRC, 2026).
A buyer who is not a first-time buyer — someone moving home — pays the standard schedule instead: nothing up to £125,000, 2% from £125,001 to £250,000, then 5% from £250,001 to £925,000.
Because the median metropolitan-borough home changes hands well below £300,000, the first-time buyer schedule mostly produces a £0 bill — while a mover buying the same home pays somewhere between a few hundred and a few thousand pounds. The table below shows both.
The full table: 36 metropolitan boroughs
Every figure is the 2025 median recorded sale price for houses and flats in that borough (HM Land Registry), the SDLT a first-time buyer and a mover would each pay on a purchase at exactly that price (Homecost SDLT engine, 7 July 2026), and the 2026-27 council tax Band D charge set by the local authority.
| Metropolitan borough | 2025 median | First-time buyer SDLT | Mover (main home) SDLT | Council tax Band D 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunderland | £155,000 | £0 | £600 | £2,197 |
| Gateshead | £164,000 | £0 | £780 | £2,716 |
| South Tyneside | £168,000 | £0 | £860 | £2,434 |
| Doncaster | £180,000 | £0 | £1,100 | £2,168 |
| Barnsley | £180,000 | £0 | £1,100 | £2,326 |
| Liverpool | £181,000 | £0 | £1,120 | £2,674 |
| Bradford | £185,000 | £0 | £1,200 | £2,361 |
| St Helens | £190,000 | £0 | £1,300 | £2,403 |
| Rotherham | £192,500 | £0 | £1,350 | £2,382 |
| Knowsley | £195,000 | £0 | £1,400 | £2,488 |
| Calderdale | £195,000 | £0 | £1,400 | £2,420 |
| Wigan | £198,250 | £0 | £1,465 | £2,153 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | £205,000 | £0 | £1,600 | £2,542 |
| Wakefield | £205,000 | £0 | £1,600 | £2,297 |
| Bolton | £207,000 | £0 | £1,640 | £2,400 |
| Rochdale | £207,000 | £0 | £1,640 | £2,601 |
| Kirklees | £211,275 | £0 | £1,725 | £2,441 |
| Oldham | £212,375 | £0 | £1,747 | £2,602 |
| Tameside | £215,000 | £0 | £1,800 | £2,447 |
| Sheffield | £217,500 | £0 | £1,850 | £2,510 |
| North Tyneside | £218,250 | £0 | £1,865 | £2,462 |
| Wirral | £220,000 | £0 | £1,900 | £2,501 |
| Sandwell | £220,000 | £0 | £1,900 | £2,244 |
| Wolverhampton | £221,000 | £0 | £1,920 | £2,539 |
| Walsall | £225,000 | £0 | £2,000 | £2,627 |
| Sefton | £230,000 | £0 | £2,100 | £2,583 |
| Coventry | £230,000 | £0 | £2,100 | £2,517 |
| Birmingham | £237,000 | £0 | £2,240 | £2,363 |
| Salford | £239,555 | £0 | £2,291 | £2,594 |
| Dudley | £242,000 | £0 | £2,340 | £2,145 |
| Leeds | £247,000 | £0 | £2,440 | £2,284 |
| Bury | £250,000 | £0 | £2,500 | £2,555 |
| Manchester | £250,000 | £0 | £2,500 | £2,312 |
| Stockport | £310,000 | £500 | £5,500 | £2,619 |
| Solihull | £330,000 | £1,500 | £6,500 | £2,197 |
| Trafford | £370,000 | £3,500 | £8,500 | £2,292 |
The cheapest end of the table is concentrated in the North East and West Yorkshire — Sunderland (£155,000), Gateshead (£164,000) and South Tyneside (£168,000) are the three lowest medians, and Doncaster, Barnsley and Bradford follow close behind. The three highest medians all sit on the prosperous fringes of the two largest conurbations.
Where first-time buyers still pay: the three exceptions
Only three boroughs recorded a 2025 median above the £300,000 first-time buyer threshold, and all three are the affluent southern or western edges of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands:
- Stockport — median £310,000 → first-time buyer SDLT £500
- Solihull — median £330,000 → first-time buyer SDLT £1,500
- Trafford — median £370,000 → first-time buyer SDLT £3,500
Even here the bills are modest, because only the slice above £300,000 is taxed: a Trafford first-time buyer at the median pays 5% of £70,000. None of the 36 medians reaches the £500,000 cliff at which relief vanishes — a threshold that, by contrast, catches most London boroughs.
Cheapest to buy is not always cheapest to run
A low purchase price does not guarantee a low running cost. Council tax is set locally, and the ranking by Band D looks nothing like the ranking by price:
- Dudley has the lowest Band D of the 36 (£2,145) despite a £242,000 median — mid-table for price.
- Gateshead is the second cheapest borough to buy in (£164,000 median) but carries the highest Band D of the group (£2,716).
- Rochdale (£2,601) and Oldham (£2,602) pair low median prices (£207,000 and £212,375) with some of the heaviest council tax bills.
- Sunderland, the cheapest borough to buy in (£155,000 median), keeps a mid-range Band D of £2,197 — modest on both counts.
The distinction matters because council tax is an annual, recurring charge, whereas stamp duty is paid once. Over a decade, a £500-a-year Band D difference can outweigh the one-off SDLT saving on many of these homes. You can see the mortgage, council tax, energy and stamp-duty stack for any street on the Homecost tool.
What first-time buyer relief is worth versus a mover
The two right-hand SDLT columns show the value of the relief at each median. In Birmingham (£237,000 median) a mover pays £2,240 while a first-time buyer pays nothing; in Manchester and Bury (both £250,000) the mover pays £2,500 and the first-time buyer £0. The relief is worth most where the median sits close to — but below — the £250,000 and £300,000 marks.
For how these prices compare across the North and Midlands, see the Homecost guides to the average house price in Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds, and the fuller explainer on how first-time buyer stamp duty relief works.
The bottom line
Across England's 36 metropolitan boroughs, the median home in 2025 was cheap enough that the typical first-time buyer owed no stamp duty in 33 of them, and no more than £3,500 in the other three. Whether an individual purchase qualifies for the relief depends on the buyer's own history and circumstances, which a conveyancer confirms on completion.
Based on 132,280 HM Land Registry transactions and 2026-27 local authority council tax data. Explore the full set of Homecost cost guides to compare regions.
This is general information, not advice. Speak to a qualified adviser before acting.