People buying new homes in parts of the UK will save as much as £15,000 each in tax as a result of plans to change how stamp duty works.
As things stand, you're taxed on the purchase value of a home if it costs more than £125,000 - with that threshold raised to £300,000 for first-time buyers.
But unveiled today by Chancellor Rishi Sunak will see that tax-free allowance upped to £500,000 from midnight.
That can save you as much as £15,000 in tax.
And the biggest winners from the change will be people looking to buy in South East England - where average property prices sit just below the new £500,000 threshhold.
Property site Rightmove found areas, where the average price tag on a home is close to £500,000, include Dorking in Surrey (£498,422), Lewes in East Sussex (£491,304), Oxford (£479,099), Chesham in Buckinghamshire (£462,210), Borehamwood in Hertfordshire (£476,791) and Bath (£464,617).
Many of these are within commuting distance to London.
But there are pockets of the rest of the country that will see a big benefit too, with the average asking price in Wilmslow in Cheshire at £467,443, for example.
However, with the average house price standing at £216,403 in June, according Nationwide, the average saving from the new rates will be £1,828.06 - while most first time buyers won't see any savings at all.
Towns with the biggest savings (outside London):
- Dorking, Surrey - £14,921
- Lymington, Hampshire - £14,916
- Sunbury-On-Thames, Surrey - £14,904
- Barton On Sea, Hampshire - £14,893
- Lewes, East Sussex - £14,565
- Broxbourne, Hertfordshire - £14,335
- Hove, East Sussex - £14,073
- Oxford, Oxfordshire - £13,955
- Leckhampton, Cheltenham - £13,876
- Hertford, Hertfordshire - £13,872
Rightmove's Miles Shipside said: "Buyers in higher priced areas with bigger deposits would benefit most if the stamp duty threshold was raised to £500,000.
"If it is included in the summer update it needs to be made clear what it would mean for people home-hunting or currently going through the conveyancing process right now, as an announcement now that doesn't come into play until the autumn will only lead to people delaying their plans.
"There's currently record housing demand but the market also needs the ability for lenders to extend the availability of low-deposit mortgages, vital to healthy first-time buyer volumes that help drive the rest of the market.
"A stamp duty holiday without better mortgage availability isn't really helpful for hard-pressed potential first-time buyers who are already mainly exempt from it anyway."
Outside of England and Northern Ireland, things will be a little different, however.
In Scotland, people pay a Land and Buildings Transaction Tax rather than stamp duty land tax, while in Wales a Land Transaction Tax applies.
