First-time buyer costs on £490,000 (2026/27)

First-time buyer costs on £490,000

Pre-filled for first-time buyer assumptions so you can compare against mover and second-home cases quickly.

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Guides for the costs at this price

What changes at this threshold?

Compare nearby price brackets with the same assumptions to see how tax and all-in totals move.

• First-time buyer: £300,001 to £500,000 contributes £9,500 at 5.0% in this scenario.
• First-time buyer assumptions can materially reduce total tax at some price ranges, so compare against moving-home before bidding.

How to use this page well

This page is designed for relief-aware budgeting before offers are agreed. It preloads first-time buyer assumptions so you can compare relief outcomes quickly without rebuilding the scenario from scratch.

Before relying on the result, check the relief conditions that apply to your purchase and buyer status. A quick comparison against the moving-home page for the same price is a useful sanity check.

This is a common comparison range where buyers often switch between first-time buyer, mover and second-home assumptions before bidding.

Practical checks before you offer

• Run the same price with a different buyer type before finalising your offer strategy.
• Keep fee assumptions realistic and update them as quotes arrive rather than waiting until exchange.
• Use the city and county pages for local-intent comparisons, but verify final figures with your conveyancer before completion.

Understanding the costs on a £490,000 purchase

The headline stamp duty figure is only part of what you need to have available at completion. On a £490,000 property, the all-in total is £12,199 once you add legal fees, your survey and any mortgage arrangement fee. That is the figure your solicitor will need you to have cleared and ready — not the deposit figure your mortgage lender quotes, and not just the tax.

Stamp duty (or LBTT in Scotland, LTT in Wales) is charged in progressive bands — only the slice of the price in each band is taxed at that rate, not the whole purchase price. So on a £490,000 property, the effective tax rate is 1.94%, which is lower than the headline marginal rate of 5.0% that applies to the top slice of the price.

Conveyancing fees cover your solicitor's legal work from instruction through to completion — title searches, Land Registry registration and the SDLT, LBTT or LTT return to HMRC, Revenue Scotland or the Welsh Revenue Authority. Quotes vary quite a bit depending on the property type, leasehold complications and the solicitor's location. The default of £1,200 used here is a reasonable mid-range estimate; open the advanced fee editor and replace it with a real quote before making any final budget decisions.

Average 2026 conveyancing quotes in the £400,001 to £500,000 band were £1,430 for a freehold purchase and £1,580 for a leasehold (Compare My Move), and the Land Registry fee at this price is £150 online. See conveyancing fees on a £490,000 home for every price band, each region and what a quote should include.

What the effective rate actually means

An effective rate of 1.94% means that across the whole £490,000 purchase price, 1.94% goes to property tax. The marginal rate of 5.0% is what applies to the last pound of the price, so it tells you what each £1,000 negotiated off is worth in tax. Because only the part of the price above a threshold is taxed at the higher rate, agreeing a price just under a threshold saves very little tax. The exception in England and Northern Ireland is first-time buyer relief, which is lost on the whole price once it goes over £500,000.

Checklist before you exchange

• Confirm you have the all-in completion sum (£12,199) available as cleared cash — not just the deposit your mortgage lender requires.
• Check whether you qualify as a first-time buyer under HMRC's definition; if you have ever owned a residential property anywhere in the world, FTB relief does not apply.
• If you own other property, confirm whether the 5% additional-property surcharge applies (England and Northern Ireland from October 2024). The surcharge is on the full purchase price. It can be refunded if you sell your previous main residence within 3 years; claim within 12 months of that sale (or of the SDLT filing date, if later).
• Get your conveyancing quote in writing before exchange, with VAT and every disbursement shown.
• Ask your mortgage broker whether there is a free valuation or cashback that offsets the arrangement fee, as this changes the net mortgage cost used in the all-in total.

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