Use our Stamp Duty calulator to work out how much you will have to pay under new rules

The stamp duty threshold has been increased from £125,000 to £500,000, meaning savings of up to £15,000 for Cambridgeshire movers.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the much-anticipated stamp duty holiday as part of a raft of measures designed to keep the economy moving.

He said the average stamp duty bill will drop by £4,500 as a result, with nearly nine out of 10 people buying their main home this financial year now set to pay no stamp duty at all.

The changes will take effect immediately for movers in England and Northern Ireland and will be in place until March 31 next year.

Until this week, the stamp duty payable for residential property stood at 2 per cent on homes priced between £125,00-£250,000, 5 per cent on £250,001-£925,000, 10 per cent on £925,001-£1.5m and 12 per cent on the portion above £1.5m.

Discounts were already in place for first-time buyers up to £300,000 (who then paid 5 per cent on any portion between £300,001-£500,000) as well as a three per cent surcharge for second home buyers, which remains unchanged.

Rightmove recorded its busiest day ever on Tuesday, July 7), with 7.7 million visits to the site.

Rightmove’s Miles Shipside said: “Lockdown prevented 175,000 would be sellers from coming to market so we hope this stamp duty holiday will provide the spur for those missing movers to come to market.

“They will find there’s currently record demand for their properties from prospective buyers, with Rightmove enquiries to agents now double what they were before lockdown.”

He warned that movers could now rush to agree a price on their next home “before some sellers put their prices up in the hope people will be able to pay more because of the tax savings.”