Scotland has replaced stamp duty with a new levy known as Land and Building Transactions Tax (LBTT).

Members of the Scottish Parliament unanimously backed the Land and Building Transactions Tax (Scotland) Bill in a landmark vote.

Finance Secretary John Swinney said the new tax is a "significant improvement" from stamp duty.

He described the slab structure of stamp duty as a "nonsense" which has "caused market distortions and leads to the false recording of house prices in an effort to avoid paying tax at the higher rate".

Property buyers pay three times as much tax when a house value goes just over the £250,000 threshold, Swinney said.

"The LBTT will solve this in Scotland at a stroke, by substituting a progressive structure where only the amount above the threshold will incur tax at the higher rate," he added.

The new charge comes into effect from April 2015 and it will include a zero rate and at least two other bands.

A key feature of the new system is that only the proportion of the property purchase price that is above the tax thresholds will be liable for the higher rate of tax.

Sharon Zaremski, associate in Strutt & Parker's Edinburgh office, said: "The average house price across Scotland is £148,174 and the Scottish Government is working from 2007 to 2009 figures which show that 70% of Scottish property prices are under £180,000.

"The new tax bands have not been announced but early indications suggest that the new LBTT will mean that anyone buying a property for more than about £300,000 will pay more tax than at present but those buying below will be better off. Therefore, this will boost confidence at the lower end of the market, where the bulk of sales are done, and will make it a little easier for first time buyers, which will hopefully add some momentum to the rest of the market.

"However, this will be keenly felt in our core market areas and will place a significant financial burden on those living in areas with above average prices. For example, someone buying a £700,000 house currently pays £28,000 in stamp duty but, under the suggested tax bands, they will either pay £39,000 or £42,250.

"The only figure that counts to the buyer is the total amount which has to be paid for a property and if a larger proportion of that is going on tax it may be that the buyer will offer the seller a lower amount to offset the extra tax."

Sharon added: "Additionally, this does not take into account regional differentials, across Scotland and across the border and this could have an interesting impact in the south of the country. For example, a buyer looking for a small cottage near Berwick would, in this scenario, be better buying in Scotland while the buyer looking for a country house in the same area would be better buying south of the border."

Swinney has said it will be at least September 2014 before he announces the new tax bands and rates.

However, anyone planning to carry out a property search in Scotland within the next couple of years may want to hear more specifics sooner than that, with Labour's Ken Macintosh saying the business world is "clamouring for greater certainty".

"There are a number of issues still to be resolved, much in the way of detail still to be published, but the Parliament is of one mind that today marks a major step forwards in improving the tax system in Scotland," he added.

Tory finance spokesman Gavin Brown also expressed concern about the lack of detail that is generating "great uncertainty" among Scottish businesses.

"This is a particular problem because this is an entirely new tax with a different framework, rates and thresholds," he warned.

Brown said he was disappointed that his amendment forcing the Scottish Government to give 12 months' notice of the rates had not been accepted.

Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie stressed that the new Bill could be introduced because of the Scotland Act, which was introduced by the coalition Government at Westminster.

"Now we have this Bill, and I welcome the Bill because I am in favour of more power for the Parliament," he said. "But we should not forget those who are enthusiastic about it today threatened the introduction of this Bill."