Santander UK comments on opportunity to reform Stamp Duty Land Tax

16 October 2025

David Morris, Head of Homes at Santander UK commented:

“Stamp Duty is in need of reform. We would support calls for the Government to review how this outdated tax can be changed to create a healthier and more dynamic homebuying market.

“Our recent report ‘Fixing the Broken Chain’ revealed that the housing market is faltering, with one in three transactions failing and costing the UK economy £1.5 billion every year – the system must change, and Stamp Duty remains one of the clearest barriers to progress.

“A healthy housing market is predicated on both supply and demand. The Government has already made significant progress in improving demand within the housing market. Recent affordability and stress-test changes have enabled us at Santander to help tens of thousands of extra people realise their homeownership aspirations. Yet Stamp Duty stifles this progress, distorting the housing market by discouraging activity through raising the fundamental cost of buying a home. Changing this transactional tax would open the market to more activity, while unlocking greater mobility by encouraging ‘rightsizers’ to move and freeing up some of the estimated 10 million empty bedrooms currently sitting vacant across the country. It would also help buyers relocating for work, and remove another major hurdle for first-time buyers, particularly in London and the Southeast where prices remain higher than elsewhere and where the tax therefore is at its highest.

“However, any revision to demand-side must be matched with bold action when it comes to supply. A renewed commitment to housebuilding - delivering on the 1.5 million new homes target - would give the market the energy, confidence, and long-term stability it needs.

“2025 is shaping up to be the year of the buyer. Rethinking Stamp Duty would ensure it’s also the year we fix the foundations of the housing market and release more urgent needed bedrooms into the market.”