Flat sellers drive rise in capital’s loss-making transactions as northern gains outpace South
Almost one in seven London homeowners who sold in 2025 took a loss on their property, the highest proportion of any region in England and Wales, analysis of Land Registry data has shown.
Hamptons’ report, which compares sale prices with the price originally paid for each property, shows that in the capital, 14.8% of sellers last year accepted less than their purchase price, pushing London above the North East, which had recorded the largest share of loss-making sales in 2024 and in nine of the previous 10 years. In 2019, 29.9% of North East vendors sold at a loss, compared with 9.2% in London, reflecting the slower post‑2008 recovery in that region.
That regional picture has shifted. The North East’s share of sales in negative equity has dropped by more than half over the past decade, from 29.9% in 2019 to 17.7% in 2024 and 13.9% in 2025. London has moved in the opposite direction, underscoring a reversal in relative performance between North and South.
The capital’s trend has been driven by flats. Although flats made up 60% of London transactions in 2025, they accounted for 90% of homes sold at a loss, up from 78.4% in 2019. At local authority level, eight of the 10 areas with the highest share of loss-making sales were in London.
Tower Hamlets recorded the largest proportion of loss-making vendors nationally in 2025, with 28.2% of sellers achieving less than they originally paid. Flats represent more than nine in 10 sales in the borough. The City of London (26.2%), Kensington & Chelsea (22.4%), Westminster (22.1%) and Hammersmith & Fulham (20.8%) completed the top five local authorities where more than a fifth of sellers sold at a loss. By contrast, in Barking & Dagenham, the capital’s lowest-priced borough on average, only 5.3% of sellers took a loss.
Despite the rising incidence of loss-making sales, most London vendors still achieved substantial nominal gains. The average seller in the capital in 2025 realised £172,510 more than they paid, equivalent to a 44.6% increase. Much of this uplift reflects longer-term price growth rather than recent performance. Around half of London households who sold last year had owned their property for more than 10 years; in cash terms, these long-term owners accounted for 77% of total gains in the capital.
Houses outperformed flats. London house sellers achieved an average gain of 59.6% over a typical holding period of 10.3 years, compared with 35.4% for flat owners over an average of 10.1 years. Only 3.5% of house vendors in the capital sold at a loss, versus 22.2% of flat sellers. That gap has widened, making it harder for flat owners to step up to a house.
Outside London, sellers in the South East, South West and East of England were also relatively likely to incur a loss. In three of the four southern regions, average gains slipped between 2024 and 2025, while all three northern regions recorded higher average gains year on year.
Sustained price growth across much of the North over the past decade means sellers there are now seeing stronger percentage returns than many in the South. In 2025, the average North West vendor achieved a 45.4% increase in the value of their home over their period of ownership, exceeding London’s 44.6% figure as well as the 38.3% recorded in the South East and the 39.5% gains in both the South West and East of England. Outside London, no southern region saw average gains above 40%.
Loss-making sales are now least common in parts of the Midlands and northern England. Of the 20 local authorities where sellers were least likely to sell for less than they paid, only two were in the South (London, South East, South West or East). Harlow in the East of England had the lowest proportion nationally, with just 0.8% of vendors selling at a loss in 2025, followed by High Peak in Derbyshire at 1.7% and Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire at 2.3%, both in the East Midlands.
Across England and Wales as a whole, the picture in 2025 was broadly unchanged from the previous year. The average homeowner sold for £91,260, or 41%, more than they had paid around nine years earlier. This was £570 less than the average gain of £91,830 recorded in 2024.
Nationally, 8.7% of sellers in 2025 received less than their original purchase price, marginally down from 8.8% in 2024. The aggregate figure conceals a clear split by property type. Among flat owners, 19.9% sold at a loss last year, compared with 4.5% of house sellers, down from 5.7% in 2024.
“In London, upward house price growth is no longer the one-way bet it once seemed,” said Aneisha Beveridge (pictured right), head of research at Hamptons. “In some cases, even owners who bought a decade ago still face getting back less than they paid – something that would have been almost unthinkable in the heady days of 2015.
“Over the next few years, more sellers are likely to have missed out on London’s 2012-16 house price boom, having bought instead at what turned out to be the top of the market. That could make trading up increasingly challenging.
“The recent slowdown in house price growth nationally is likely to reduce the uplift homeowners achieve when they come to sell in the coming years. But for many, moving remains a discretionary decision, heavily influenced by the value they can achieve. If the numbers don’t stack up – and sellers risk losing part of their original deposit – many choose to stay put. This means some homeowners, particularly those unable to secure a gain, are likely to remain out of the market.”
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