London homeowners more likely to sell at a loss than any others in the UK

Homeowners in London are more likely to sell at a loss than any other part of the country, new analysis of official figures by property firm Hamptons has revealed.

In 2025, 14.8 per cent of London sellers sold for less than they originally paid, according to the Land Registry data used.

This means London has overtaken the North East as the most likely location for selling a property for less than it was bought for.

Hamptons says the North East had been the most likely place to sell at a loss for nine of the last 10 years.

But that picture has shifted dramatically with the share of loss-making sales in the North East having more than halved over the past decade, falling from 29.9 per cent in 2019 to 17.7 per cent in 2024 and to just 13.9 per cent last year.

Across England and Wales as a whole, 8.7 per cent of sellers in 2025 got back less for their property than they originally paid.

London’s figure has been rising, underlining the reversal in fortunes between North and South. 

This trend has been driven largely by flat sellers, who despite accounting for 60 per cent of London sales last year, represented 90 per cent of homes sold at a loss, up from 78.4 per cent in 2019.

‘In London, upward house price growth is no longer the one-way bet it once seemed,’ said Aneisha Beveridge, 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. And for many, the sums are likely to remain tight.

‘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.’

Where in London are you most likely to sell at a loss?

Eight of the 10 local authorities where sellers were most likely to make a loss were in the capital. 

There were five local authorities in the capital where more than a fifth of sellers sold at a loss in 2025. 

Last year, 28.2 per cent of sellers in Tower Hamlets sold for less than they paid, the highest figure in both the capital and the country, with flats making up more than 90 per cent of all sales in the area.

In The City of London, 26.2 per cent of those that sold, did so at a loss, in Kensington and Chelsea, it was 22.4 per cent, in Westminster 22.1 per cent of sellers sold for a loss last year, and in Hammersmith and Fulham 20.8 per cent made a loss.

Meanwhile, in Barking & Dagenham – London’s cheapest borough – just 5.3 per cent of sellers sold below purchase price.

Houses are over six times less likely to sell at a loss 

The average London seller in 2025 sold for £172,510 more than what they originally paid, with most of this uplift stemming from historic house price growth. 

This compares to the average homeowner in England and Wales selling for £91,260 more than they paid.

Although half of London sellers last year had owned their home for more than a decade, in cash terms, these long-term owners accounted for 77 per cent of the total gains made in the capital.

House owners in the capital generally recorded higher gains than flat owners.

The average house seller in the capital sold with a 59.6 per cent gain over an average of 10.3 years, compared with a 35.4 per cent gain for flats over a similar 10.1 year period. 

ln fact, only 3.5 per cent of London house sellers sold at a loss in 2025 compared to 22.2 per cent of flat owners.

It means London house sellers were more than six times less likely than flat sellers to make a loss. 

This widening gap has made it increasingly difficult for flat owners to bridge the step up to a house, according to Hamptons.

Northern house prices to outpace the south for ‘foreseeable future’

The sustained level of house price growth across the North of England over the last decade means that sellers there have seen proportionally higher gains than those in the South. 

In 2025, the average seller in the North West achieved a 45.4  increase in the value of their home during their period of ownership. 

This is higher than London at 44.6 per cent, the South East at 38.3 per cent, the South West and East of England where the average seller made a gain of 39.5 when they sold up.

Unsurprisingly, outside of London, sellers in the South of England were also among the most likely to sell for less than they paid.

Meanwhile, sellers in the Midlands and Northern England are now among the least likely to make a loss when they sell. 

Of the 20 local authorities where sellers were least likely to sell below their purchase price, only two were in the South of England. 

At the very top of the list was Harlow in the East of England, where just 0.8 per cent of sellers sold at a loss in 2025. 

This was followed by High Peak in Derbyshire (1.7 per cent) and Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire (2.3 per cent), both in the East Midlands.

Aneisha Beveridge of Hamptons thinks that house price gains in the North and Midlands could outpace London and the south for the ‘foreseeable future.’

‘Nationally, rising gains in the North have helped offset shrinking returns in the South, leaving the overall picture broadly unchanged from last year,’ she said.

‘And with much of the recent price growth in the North and Midlands now baked in, it’s possible that seller gains there could outpace those in the South – in both cash and percentage terms – for the foreseeable future.

Beveridge added: ‘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.’