Stamp Duty on a £400,000 House

What you'll pay in 2026 — for each buyer type, with the full band-by-band maths

SDC Maintained by the Stamp Duty Calculator editorial team. · Calculated against HMRC published SDLT rates from 1 April 2025 · 16 May 2026

On a £400,000 home purchase in England or Northern Ireland in 2026, Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) ranges from £5,000 (first-time buyer) through £10,000 (standard home mover) to £30,000 (additional property / buy-to-let). The exact figure depends on who you are and what you're buying.

A £400,000 purchase is squarely in the typical first-time buyer or upsizing mover bracket — close to the UK average house price in 2026, plus a London or commuter-belt premium.

The headline numbers at £400,000

Buyer typeSDLTEffective rate
First-time buyer£5,0001.25%
Standard home mover£10,0002.50%
Additional property (2nd home / BTL)£30,0007.50%

Non-UK residents add 2% to every band in any of the categories above.

First-time buyer at £400,000

First-time buyers pay £5,000 at this price. FTB relief covers the first £300,000 with 5% on the £300,001-£500,000 slice.

Band-by-band: 0% on the first £300,000 = £0 · 5% on the remaining £100,000 = £5,000. Total: £5,000.

Standard home mover at £400,000

For a home mover replacing their only or main residence:

Band-by-band: 0% on the first £125,000 = £0 · 2% on the next £125,000 = £2,500 · 5% on the remaining £150,000 = £7,500. Total: £10,000.

Additional property at £400,000

For a buy-to-let, second home or any purchase where the buyer will own another residential property at the end of the day of completion:

Band-by-band: 5% on the first £125,000 = £6,250 · 7% on the next £125,000 = £8,750 · 10% on the remaining £150,000 = £15,000. Total: £30,000.

That is £30,000 — note how much larger the additional-property SDLT is than the standard figure. The 5% surcharge applies to every band of the purchase from £40,000 upwards.

Who typically buys at £400,000?

First-time buyers in good London commuter towns, upsizers moving from a starter flat in the South East, or second-home buyers looking at coastal cottages in popular regions.

Buyer profile at £400,000

£400,000 is a common purchase price for families upgrading to forever homes, and BTL landlords targeting premium central-city yields, particularly in London Zone 4, prime Guildford and Woking, Cambridge, and Manchester deansgate/prime. Typical property stock at this price includes four-bed detached, five-bed semis in commuter belts, prime one-bed London Zone 3-4 flats. On the financing side, a 75% LTV mortgage of £300,000 at 4.6% over 25 years costs about £1,690/month, and a 25% deposit is £100,000 — a significant threshold that requires either extended saving or family gifting.

Practical wisdom at this price point: At £400k, first-time buyer relief saves £2,500 vs a standard buyer; standard SDLT is £10,000. BTL SDLT is £30,000, meaning the additional-property surcharge alone (£20,000) exceeds the pre-surcharge SDLT. This is the price band where BTL yields need to work hardest — factor 5% surcharge into your yield calculation, not the headline standard SDLT.

Beyond SDLT: the total cost to complete

SDLT is the biggest single cost but not the only one. At £400,000, you should also budget for:

Use the moving costs calculator for an itemised total.

How to negotiate around the bands

Because SDLT is banded, small price differences near a threshold matter — particularly the £500,000 first-time buyer cliff edge where the relief is lost entirely. Other notable thresholds at this price:

Calculate your exact figure

The numbers above are exact for £400,000 — but if you want to model a different price, run a comparison, or get the total cost to complete including all fees, use the calculators:

Sources

Rates last verified against HMRC: 16 May 2026.