Homebuyers are paying £1.5 billion more in stamp duty than they were a year ago despite Chancellor George Osborne's reforms in December.
Buyers spent an estimated £7.7 billion on stamp duty in England and Wales in the year to March 2015, according to new research from Lloyds Bank, published today.
That comfortably exceeds the previous peak in the year to March 2008, when the bill totalled £6.2 billion at the height of the housing boom.
The sharp increase in stamp duty is due to a combination of increased prices and higher number of residential property transactions, Lloyds said.
Its figures show that the average homeowner spends nearly £10,000 on stamp duty in total as they move up the housing ladder
Homeowners in London who bought for the first time in 1999 will now, on average, have spent over £38,000 in total.
Just one in three first time buyers paid stamp duty in 1999, but today over two thirds pay, Lloyds' research shows.
In London and the South East, more than nine in 10 first-time buyers now pay stamp duty on their purchase.
Nitesh Patel, housing economist at Lloyds Bank, said: "The welcome reforms to stamp duty announced by the Chancellor last December have helped to reduce bills for the overwhelming majority of homebuyers and movers. Yet the overall revenue raised actually increased by £1.5 billion in the year to March 2015."
Separate research, also published today, shows that stamp duty on the average UK home is now half the amount it would have been, thanks to the Chancellor's reforms.
It said the changes have helped 98.3% of homebuyers.
The average cost has fallen to £3,653, down from £8,192 under the old system, according to the study by Post Office Money and the Centre for Economics and Business Research today.
But the average stamp duty bill is forecast to hit £5,750 by 2020.
John Willcock, head of mortgages at Post Office Money, said: "There is no question that a significant number of buyers and movers will benefit from the recent measures designed to reduce the cost of stamp duty.
"However, there is still significant debate about whether more could be done to help people move up the ladder, with some even proposing to scrap the charge completely.
"Whether further changes happen or not, it is important that people consider all of the costs of buying moving and plan ahead, to ensure they are as prepared as possible."
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