Over 780,000 home buyers saved an estimated £657m on Stamp Duty Land Tax in the year since the tax was reformed, George Osborne said yesterday.

He said transactions levels at the top end of the market have remained constant under the new regime and Stamp Duty receipts from homes costing over £1m went up by 15% across the year.

In December 2014 the Chancellor reformed the residential Stamp Duty system, changing it from a ‘slab’ to a ‘slice’ structure and reducing Stamp Duty for 98% of people who pay it.

New analysis released by HMRC shows that the benefits of this reform have been felt across the country, with home buyers saving an estimated total of:

• £24m in the north-east or £900 for the average house
• £90m in the north-west or £700 for the average house
• £74m in the east midlands or £500 for the average house
• £131m in the south-west or £4,800 for the average house
• £38m in Wales or £800 for the average house

Osborne said: “In 2014 I cut Stamp Duty and already three-quarters of a million home buyers across the country have benefited.

“It’s a fair, workable, lasting reform to the taxation of housing.”

Under the reforms, buyers of more expensive properties pay higher Stamp Duty.

The Treasury said that whilst the average purchaser of a property in London saw a decrease in SDLT, London buyers as a whole paid more SDLT.

The main reason for this, said the Treasury, is the relatively high volume of properties which are worth over £1m and where purchasers ended up paying more under the new system.

The south-east saw the largest saving although it had a relatively higher average property price, as large numbers of properties fall between £125,000 and £1m and thus contribute to an overall estimated saving. Other regions like the north-east, Wales and Northern Ireland saved less as they have fewer property transactions and many of these transactions pay no or very little SDLT in the first place.

The Treasury said almost 85% of residential property transactions are for people’s main residential home, according to 2014-15 data.