According to Coventry Building Society, this is still high compared to 2019, or pre-pandemic levels, when the average stamp duty bill was estimated at £7,778.

However, it is down from 2022 figures when the average stamp duty bill reached a record of £11,154, with homebuyers paying £16.2bn in the period.

The latest figures from the HMRC showed that homebuyers collectively paid £5.4bn in property tax in the first half of this year.

The Government brought in revised stamp duty thresholds in September as part of the mini Budget, but this was reversed by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in November as part of the Autumn Budget.

The changed threshold will remain in place until 2025 after which point it will revert to thresholds set in 2014. The average stamp duty bill at that time came to £6,235.

Jonathan Stinton, head of intermediary relationships at Coventry Building Society, said: “What was once an inconvenient hurdle has rapidly grown into a barrier people could really struggle to get around. Homebuyers are having to find, on average, over £4,000 more to clear the stamp duty bill on their home than they did ten years ago – that rate of increase just isn’t sustainable.

“The average bill might have dropped from the record-breaking heights of last year, but it’s still painfully high – and this is while buyers still have the benefits of the temporary thresholds.

“In less than two years that relief will drop off a cliff, and homebuyers’ tax bills will shoot up again – unless a long-term plan is established now.”

He added: “Changing the thresholds has always been the go-to solution, but a more innovative approach designed to help people at all stages of homeownership is what’s really needed.

“The current regime only offers limited one-way support for those moving up the ladder, but there’s a lack of support for downsizers which could be keeping people from moving to a property which is right for them.”