Stamp Duty Land Tax receipts hit £10.6bn in the first eight months of the year, according to Coventry Building Society’s analysis of HMRC tax receipts.

The amount of tax paid when buying property is 39% (£3bn) higher than the same period in 2021.

£1.6bn was paid by buyers in August alone, the second highest amount in any month on record (The most was £1.7bn in December 2021). The rates and thresholds for Stamp Duty Land Tax were last changed by George Osborne in December 2014. Since then, average property prices in England have risen by more than £100,000 from £203,346 to £311,583.

Jonathan Stinton, head of intermediary relationships at Coventry Building Society, said: “If the rumours of a cut to Stamp Duty are true, it’s good news for homebuyers who are being squeezed harder and harder by the tax on buying a home. Buying an average-priced home in England now comes with a Stamp Duty kicker of £5,579. That’s more than three times the £1,566 tax bill for an average-priced home in 2014 when the thresholds and rates were last set.

“The Treasury is now on course for yet another record Stamp Duty haul this year. However, while homebuyers face soaring property tax bills, the prospect of higher gas and electricity bills is a more immediate concern for most people.

“An overhaul of property tax rates and thresholds could be a win-win move for the Chancellor, but he would be missing an opportunity if it isn’t linked to an energy efficiency incentive that would help to rapidly reduce energy use in much of the UK’s housing stock and help to keep people’s long-term gas and electricity bills down.”