Landlords may have been reeling at extra Stamp Duty charges, but those buying higher value properties may have actually benefited from slower price growth, research suggests.

Analysis of Land Registry data by mortgage broker Private Finance recorded annual price growth of 0.5% in 2016 among the top 5% of transactions, compared with 4.2% in 2015.

Had the top 5% of the market risen at the same 4.2% rate, buyers would have had to part with £1.162m for the average high-value home in 2016, rather than £1.121m – an extra £40,827.

At the same time, the Stamp Duty reform introduced in April 2016 means a property worth £1.121m is now liable for Stamp Duty of £89,521 if purchased as a buy-to-let or second home.

This is £33,639 more than the £55,882 fee under the previous system.

But the broker argues that the savings in slower house price growth offset the additional £33,639 Stamp Duty bill.

The difference is even greater in London where the top 5% of 2016 property sales averaged £2.581m, up by 1.5% from £2.543m in 2015.

However, the remaining 95% of the London property market saw average prices grow by 8.2% over the same period from £443,259 to £479,507.

Had the top 5% of the London market grown at the same 8.2% rate, it would have pushed average prices in this bracket up to £2.750m, leaving buyers to stump up an extra £169,410 for their purchase.

This far exceeds the additional £77,431 in Stamp Duty due on a £2.581m property.

Shaun Church, director at Private Finance, said: “Conditions have been tougher at the top of the housing market since last April’s Stamp Duty reforms, which created all manner of disruption to normal activity before and after they took effect.

“A healthy housing market needs movement and fluidity at all levels and across all tenures, but successive changes to Stamp Duty in 2014 and 2016 have had the opposite effect.

“If there is one silver lining for would-be buyers and investors, it’s that slower growth of high-value property prices has had a positive impact on affordability.

“A buyer today can pay markedly less for a high-value property at the top end of the ladder than if growth had kept pace with the rest of the market, making it easier to absorb any extra Stamp Duty fees.”