Halifax research has found that the residential stamp duty tax has increased more than nine-fold since 1993-4, from £465m to an estimated £4,300m in the current tax year.

A survey conducted for Halifax by NOP found that 81 per cent of people in the UK think that the current stamp duty regime is unfair on first-time buyers.

Seventy per cent believe that the Government should adjust the stamp duty threshold to bring it in line with the increase in house prices.

Halifax research also shows that the average first time buyers in all of the UK's 12 regions now pays stamp duty.