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As the government’s stamp duty holiday comes to a close at the end of March, an estimated 25,000 first-time buyers in England are set to miss the deadline, risking up to £11,250 in extra charges when their purchases complete in April.

According to property site Rightmove (RMV.L), an average home-mover in England will see an additional £2,500 in stamp duty costs from 1 April.

While first-time buyers of homes priced up to £300,000 will still be exempt from stamp duty, those purchasing homes valued between £500,001 and £625,000 will be hit the hardest. This group will face an extra £11,250 in taxes, as the government’s stamp duty rules change.

Rightmove’s data focuses on homes with two bedrooms or fewer — typical for first-time buyers — and priced up to £625,000, which is the current maximum threshold for first-time buyer stamp duty exemptions. However, some buyers will be disproportionately impacted by the upcoming changes.

In total, nearly 74,000 home-movers in England are currently in the legal completion process and are expected to miss the 31 March deadline, with their deals set to complete in April. Although the number of homes going through the legal process is higher, most were unlikely to meet the deadline. The delayed completion will cost these buyers a total of £142m in additional stamp duty, compared to what they would have paid if they’d completed in March. First-time buyers alone will collectively face a total £34m in extra costs.

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Rightmove is urging the government to extend the deadline by a short period, to help the 74,000 home-movers — especially the 25,000 first-time buyers — who will miss the deadline.

Colleen Babcock, property market expert at Rightmove, said: “We expect a rush to complete close to 31 March as first-time buyers and home-movers try to avoid paying extra in tax. Our numbers show how there is a relatively small, but disproportionately impacted group of first-time buyers who will be caught out by the changing thresholds, highlighting some disparities in the way the current system works.

“With 74,000 people only just set to miss the deadline, in part because of the extremely lengthy completion times in England, we think it would make sense to grant a short extension to the deadline and help these movers, rather than have them face higher charges when they complete later in April.”

The analysis, which was based on homes marked as Sold Subject to Contract (SSTC), looks at the average time required to complete a home purchase in England — currently 163 days, or just over five months. The data takes into account regional variations, with buyers in the South East set to be the most affected. This region, which has the second-highest average home prices in England, will see a particularly large number of home-movers missing the stamp duty deadline.

Read more: Four in five homebuyers to pay more stamp duty from April

Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, said: “There will be a lot of first-time buyers disheartened by the fact that they will have to pay, in some cases, thousands of extra pounds to complete their house purchase from April especially as many of the delays experienced will have been out of the buyers' control due to issues presented in the property chain.

“Moving forward, we know that those determined to buy a home and step onto the property ladder will factor this into their costs. However, for some, this is not possible or will not be easy to accomplish. The extra cost may come as a blow and set people back from being able to make their aspirations of owning a property a reality.

“It’s important that the UK government takes this into consideration moving forward and in order to keep the property chain moving fluently well into the future, financial support may well be needed.”