The group said that increases in Stamp Duty over the last 15 years had been out of proportion with the housing market and that the tax was now preventing the market from growing naturally.

A normal homebuyer currently pays 3.7% of their house purchase price to the government, a figure which has risen from less than 1% before 1997. 

The average Stamp Duty paid by homebuyers has grown by more than eleven times in the last two decades, rising from £532 per house purchase in 1995/6 to £5,957 in 2011/12. Buyers in East Anglia have suffered most with Stamp Duty in the region now 30 times higher than it was in 1995/96 for an average property.

The pressure group added that Stamp Duty was now often the single biggest cost for home movers, greater than estate agents and legal fees.

Its research said that the government had now passed the point of optimal taxation and that rates were now so high they were stifling the housing market and reducing government revenues.

“Stamp Duty is so high that homeowners now often postpone moving until they absolutely have to,” the Homeowners Alliance said.

“If they need an extra bedroom, it now often makes more financial sense to build an extension (or convert an attic or basement) rather than move – since the money you invest in expanding your house you will generally get back when you sell, but Stamp Duty you will not.

“High duties at the top of the housing market (eg 5% on homes over £1m) may generate little public sympathy, but they are part of the gumming up of the housing market, blocking upwards movement from people lower down.

“We are moving more to a Belgian-style housing market where house taxes are so high, people try and move house as little as possible and even stay in one house their whole lives. This is not an efficient way of allocating housing to meet people’s changing need.”

Ben Thompson, MD Legal & General Mortgage Club, added: 

“The sharp rises we saw in stamp duty over 10 years ago are now directly causing the market to freeze. Because of this, since the downturn, stamp duty has become a prohibitive influence on the housing market. The level of fees required for second steppers to move home is near impossible to save; especially as household disposable income has suffered over recent years.

“During the Stamp Duty holiday that ended in March 2012, the CML revealed data which indicated a 7% jump in loans to first-time buyers during December 2011. The appetite is clearly out there for first-time buyers to get onto the property ladder, especially as we have seen market confidence increase over recent months. Having said that, stimulus is still needed to ensure a full recovery is possible.

“We support the Homeowners Alliance’s call for an overhaul of the system and both the government and lenders need to work together to make homeownership more achievable for more people. A Stamp Duty break or increased fee thresholds would definitely be a step in the right direction.”