Above a purchase price of £350,000, Wales's Land Transaction Tax (LTT) costs more than England's Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) on an identical home — and the gap does not stay flat as prices rise. By £1,000,000, a buyer completing in Wales pays £18,000 more in tax than an equivalent buyer in England, a gap that has grown 36-fold in cash terms between the crossover point and seven figures.
The reason is structural. Once a purchase price clears £400,000, Wales's marginal LTT rate runs ahead of England's marginal SDLT rate for a long stretch — and between £750,000 and £925,000 in particular, the gap widens fastest of all. Homecost's stamp duty calculator runs both regimes on any price.
The gap at five price points
Figures below use the standard (non-first-time-buyer, single-property) rate in each regime, calculated against Homecost's stamp duty calculator on 2 September 2026.
| Purchase price | England SDLT | Wales LTT | Cash gap | Gap as % of price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £400,000 | £10,000 | £10,500 | £500 | 0.13% |
| £500,000 | £15,000 | £18,000 | £3,000 | 0.60% |
| £600,000 | £20,000 | £25,500 | £5,500 | 0.92% |
| £750,000 | £27,500 | £36,750 | £9,250 | 1.23% |
| £1,000,000 | £43,750 | £61,750 | £18,000 | 1.80% |
To put the cash gap in a comparable unit: on a 75% loan-to-value mortgage at the Bank of England's quoted 5-year fixed rate of 4.32% (as at 1 April 2026, the latest available reading), the SDLT/LTT gap is equivalent to the following number of months of interest-only payments on that same loan.
| Purchase price | Cash gap | Months of mortgage interest the gap represents |
|---|---|---|
| £400,000 | £500 | 0.5 |
| £500,000 | £3,000 | 2.2 |
| £600,000 | £5,500 | 3.4 |
| £750,000 | £9,250 | 4.6 |
| £1,000,000 | £18,000 | 6.7 |
This is an interest-only comparison at 75% LTV for consistency across price points, not a mortgage quote — your own rate will depend on your lender, deposit and credit profile.
Why the gap accelerates
England and Wales apply different rate bands, and the two schedules cross at exactly £350,000. Homecost has mapped the precise crossover thresholds between all three UK stamp duty regimes separately. Below £350,000, Wales is cheaper; above it, Wales is more expensive, and the gap compounds because Wales moves onto a higher marginal rate sooner:
| Band | England SDLT | Wales LTT |
|---|---|---|
| Nil rate | £0 – £125,000 | £0 – £225,000 |
| Next slab | £125,001 – £250,000 at 2% | £225,001 – £400,000 at 6% |
| Mid slab | £250,001 – £925,000 at 5% | £400,001 – £750,000 at 7.5% |
| Upper slab | £925,001 – £1,500,000 at 10% | £750,001 – £1,500,000 at 10% |
| Top rate | above £1,500,000 at 12% | above £1,500,000 at 12% |
England holds buyers on a single 5% marginal rate all the way from £250,001 to £925,000. Wales instead steps up twice inside that same range — to 7.5% at £400,001 and to 10% at £750,001. Between £750,000 and £925,000, a Welsh buyer pays double England's marginal rate (10% versus 5%) on every additional pound — the single fastest-widening section of the whole curve.
Wales also has no separate first-time buyer relief: LTT's £225,000 nil-rate band applies to every buyer regardless of history. England's SDLT, by contrast, gives first-time buyers their own nil-rate band up to £300,000, tapering to zero by £500,000 (verified against Homecost's calculator, 2 September 2026) — a second structural difference that widens the practical gap for first-time buyers specifically, on top of the mover-rate comparison above.
How common is a £400,000-plus purchase
This is not a niche price bracket. Of the 782,603 category-A residential sales recorded in England and Wales in 2025, 238,780 — 30.5% — completed above £400,000, and 23,874, or 3.1%, completed above £1,000,000 (HM Land Registry Price Paid data, fetched 2 September 2026). A meaningful share of the market sits inside the range where this gap applies.
What this doesn't tell you
This is a comparison of statutory tax bills only. It says nothing about which side of the border is cheaper to buy or run a home overall — sale prices, mortgage availability, council tax and running costs all differ by area too. For council tax mechanics, see Homecost's council tax bands explainer; for the full three-way picture including Scotland, see the SDLT vs LBTT vs LTT comparison; and for the mechanics of Wales's higher rates on additional properties, see the Welsh LTT higher rates guide. Try any postcode, such as Cardiff city centre, in Homecost's full cost tool, or browse more cost intelligence guides.
This is general information about how each tax works, not advice on where or when to buy. Rates, bands and reliefs can change, and individual circumstances — additional properties, non-UK residence, first-time buyer status — alter every figure above. Speak to a qualified adviser before acting.