Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a sucker punch to second home buyers and landlords during Wednesday's Budget in the form of a fresh stamp duty hike.

For all home movers, this means the basic threshold at which you pay 2 per cent tax will be reduced to £125,000 from the current level of £250,000.

Ultimately if you are buying in an area that is popular with buy-to-let investors or second home owners and the extra stamp duty surcharge puts some of the competition off, then that may put you in a better position to negotiate a better deal with sellers.

But like the stamp duty surcharge in England, Scotland has what it calls an additional dwelling supplement (ADS), which is charged on top of LBTT when someone purchases a second property.