Speculation is growing that Chancellor Rachel Reeves will scrap the lower stamp duty threshold for first-time buyers first set up some two years ago.
The scheme was in any case scheduled to end next spring: the measure was always described by the past government as being temporary.
Under the scheme first announced when Liz Truss was Prime Minister, first-time buyers pay no stamp duty tax for properties under £425,000.
It is expected that Reeves will reinstate the figure at £300,000 in a move which The Times predicts will raise £1.8 billion a year for the Treasury by 2029-30.
First-time buyers purchasing homes priced between £500,000 and £625,000 will also lose their eligibility for first-time buyer relief. These changes mean a third of first-time buyers in England will pay more stamp duty from April next year than they do today.
The approach will particularly affect buyers in London and the South East, where the average price of a home is £694,906 and £483,780, respectively, according to Rightmove.
From April 1 the average first-time buyer in London will face a stamp duty bill of £5,600, £1,390 in the South East and £1,040 in the East of England compared to £0 today. In some areas of London, first-time buyers could pay an additional £15,000 in stamp duty once the planned changes come in and if there is no change announced in the Autumn Budget.
Zoopla analysis suggests that due to lower property prices, the vast majority of buyers in the North of England and the East and West Midlands will be unaffected by the changes on April 1. Around 95% of first-time buyers within these regions are currently looking for homes priced below £300,000 and therefore will not be impacted by the incoming changes.
This is due to the average house price in the majority of areas within these regions sitting below the FTB stamp-duty threshold of £300,000. For example, the average house price in key cities including Manchester (£226,600), Leeds (£209,800), Birmingham (£211,000), Newcastle (£154,900) and Liverpool (£159,600) sit well below £300,000.
Stamp duty is not liable for any home anywhere in England under £250,000. The typical cost of a FTB home across the country is £226,868.
