A fifth of first-time buyers in London are still paying Stamp Duty on their purchases, while those in the north of England are not feeling the ‘benefit’ because there is none – they were already buying property at prices below the threshold.

The latest HMRC data shows that 180,500 first-time buyers have made use of the exemption – introduced in November 2017 on the first £300,000 of a purchase on properties valued up to £500,000 – and have saved £426m between them.

Home moving and conveyancing comparison service reallymoving.com has used the figures on the locations where customers are requesting quotes to assess where most of the property tax is being saved.

Of the £426m Stamp Duty saved in the 12 months to November, the website found that first-time buyers in London have enjoyed a 28% share of the savings, worth approximately £119m, followed by the south-east at 25% (£106m) and the east at 14% (£62m).

Meanwhile, first-time buyers in the north-east enjoyed just 1% of the savings, worth £5m.

This has prompted calls for regional caps on the exemption.

Rob Houghton, chief executive of reallymoving.com, said the disparity was due to many buyers in the north of England already purchasing properties below the Stamp Duty threshold.

He added that some buyers in London were still paying some Stamp Duty due to high prices meaning many are purchasing properties worth more than £500,000.

Houghton said: “The Government’s Stamp Duty giveaway for first-time buyers has had little effect in the northern regions, with the impact broadly increasing the further south you go.

“The Government recognised the impact of regional house price variations when it introduced Help to Buy regional caps in the latest Budget, yet Stamp Duty continues to be applied nationally.”