(Bloomberg) — For the first time in at least a decade, a London property seller now has a greater likelihood of incurring a loss than anywhere else in the United Kingdom.
According to a Hamptons report, about 15% of Londoners sold their homes last year for less than what they paid for them. This was the highest share in England and Wales, well above the national average of 8.7%, according to data from the brokerage dating back to 2015.
“In London, property price appreciation ceased to be the sure bet it once seemed to be,” said Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons. “Owners who bought a decade ago still run the risk of getting less than they paid — something that would be almost unthinkable in the halcyon days of 2015.”
The drop in London’s property market, driven in part by the stamp duty increase and by the looming mansion tax on properties valued at more than £2 million (US$2.7 million), has led some desperate sellers to offer discounts of up to 50% in the past year. Homes in the United Kingdom valued at more than £2 million — the majority of them in London — could see an additional 5% depreciation in 2026 as the market adjusts to the mansion tax, according to forecasts published last month by Hamptons.
In London, apartment sellers were six times more likely to incur losses than house sellers in 2025, a gap that has been gradually widening over the past decade. Higher ground rents, elevated service charges, and tighter regulation for investors in rental property have been weighing on apartment values in the British capital.
Undoubtedly, the average seller in London in 2025 achieved a price 45% higher than what they originally paid. However, most of that appreciation came from the historic rise in property prices, Hamptons said.
In nine of the last ten years, the Northeast of England recorded the highest likelihood of losses compared with any other region of England and Wales, according to Hamptons. However, the recent stronger price growth in the northern regions has boosted returns. In 2019, 30% of sellers in the Northeast sold their properties for less than what they paid, compared with 9.2% in London, illustrating the reversal of roles between the north and south of England.
“In the coming years, more sellers are likely to miss the opportunity to profit from London’s property rally between 2012 and 2016, as they bought at what turned out to be the market peak,” Beveridge of Hamptons said. “The recent slowdown in nationwide price growth is likely to reduce the gains that owners will realize when selling their properties in the coming years.”
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