The Government's stamp duty holiday benefited nearly one in three homebuyers in the first 10 months of its launch, a report has revealed.

According to Halifax, 31% of all buyers or nearly 112,000 people in England and Wales benefited from the temporary increase in the nil rate band from £125,000 to £175,000.

The move, launched during last September to kick-start the housing market and help first-time buyers, also saw another 32% of people getting the tax payment exemption as the value of their home was less than £125,000.

Almost 27% of first-time buyers were able to save the tax money with the rise in the stamp duty threshold, indicating that 83% of all people buying their first property did not have to pay it.

But the number of buyers who have benefited from the move is significantly lower than it would have been in previous years because of the current low level of housing transactions.

Only 366,000 properties changed hands in England and Wales between September and June, 50% fewer than during the same period a year earlier.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said: "The temporary raising of the lowest stamp duty tax threshold has removed a significant number of homebuyers from the tax net.

"This has been a boost to many people in a very difficult economic climate. The impact has added to the far more significant effect of the reduction in house prices in helping to reduce the costs of buying a home over the past year.

"Lower prices have also brought some properties below £175,000, therefore making the purchasers of such properties exempt from stamp duty whereas they would not have been a year ago."

Unsurprisingly, buyers in northern regions have benefited most from the increase to the stamp duty threshold.

Around 84% of all properties sold in the North were exempt from stamp duty during the 10 months to the end of June, while buyers did not pay stamp duty on more than 80% of homes in Yorkshire and the Humber, the North West and the East Midlands.

But at the other end of the scale, only 22% of homes in London and 47% in the South East sold for less than £175,000 during the period.

Nine out of 10 first-time buyers did not pay stamp duty outside of southern England, but this fell to only 34% in London and 67% in the South East.

The threshold at which stamp duty becomes payable is due to return to £125,000 at the end of this year.

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