A high street bank today called for a rise in the higher stamp duty limit after a massive increase in the number of Scottish home sales above the threshold.

The Bank of Scotland estimates there has been a ninefold rise in the last five years.

It says nearly one in 10 buyers in Scotland paid 3% stamp duty on the value of their new home last year, up from just 1% in 2001.

A bill of at least £7500 in the property tax would have been paid in these transactions, it is estimated.

Chancellor Gordon Brown raised the minimum limit for stamp duty two years ago from £60,000 to £120,000 to help first-time buyers get on the property ladder.

He raised it again last year, so that 1% stamp duty is now charged on the value of homes costing between £125,000 and £250,000.

But the upper limits for the property tax have remained unchanged since they were introduced a decade ago.

Bank of Scotland said these thresholds should be adjusted to reflect the 175% rise in house prices since 1997.

For homes which cost from £250,001 to £500,000 the stamp duty limit is 3%, rising to 4% for homes which sell for more than half a million pounds. But if those thresholds had gone up in line with house price inflation since 1997, the £250,000 limit would now be £680,000 and the £500,000 barrier would be £1.36million.

In Scotland last year, sales above the 3% stamp duty threshold accounted for at least one in 10 property sales in 12 Scottish local authorities, compared with no council areas in 2001.

Bank of Scotland estimates 52% of home buyers in Scotland paid at least 1% stamp duty last year, compared with 48% in 2001.

Homebuyers in these transactions were faced with a stamp duty bill of at least £1250.

More than seven in 10 (72%) home sales in Edinburgh were above the 1% stamp duty threshold last year.

This was the highest proportion in Scotland, followed by East Renfrewshire (70%) and East Dunbartonshire (70%).

The average stamp duty bill was highest in Edinburgh (£2027) and East Renfrewshire (£1916).

Total annual stamp duty revenue from residential property sales across the UK was £4.6billion by 2006, up 114% from £2.1bn in 2001.

Tim Crawford, group economist at Bank of Scotland, said: "The key factor behind this rise has been the thresholds at which the higher stamp duty rates are levied have not been adjusted since their introduction almost 10 years ago.

"We call on the Government to increase the thresholds in line with the increase in house prices since the mid-90s, and to commit to index linking all the stamp duty thresholds to house price inflation in the future."