Chancellor George Osborne is being encouraged to change the thresholds for stamp duty as the cost of an average house creeps up.
Official figures are expected to show that the average house price rose from £248,000 to near enough £250,000.
For some years now, the 3% rate of stamp duty has begun immediately at the £250,000 mark.
Experts have called the current situation a “stamp duty crisis”.
Below the £250,000 level, stamp duty is just 1%.
This has caused thousands of homeowners to sell their property at a discount, according to the property advisers LCP.
According to HMRC’s Ready Reckoner, lowering the 3pc rate to 2pc would cost the Treasury £1bn, while raising the £250,000 threshold to £300,000 would cost £750m.
Britain’s property market has been boosted by Help to Buy, which offers Government subsidies to borrowers with small deposits. Stamp duty raised nearly £7bn in the nine months since the scheme launched in April, a 30% jump over the previous nine months.
But observers fear that the benefits of Help to Buy are being undermined by the lack of gradation on prices above £250,000.
“Without re-evaluating the bands, the Government is giving with one hand and taking with the other with their stimulus schemes,” said Naomi Heaton, LCP chief executive.
