A Decade-High Share of Loss-Making Home Sales Recorded in London

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Around 15% of homeowners in London sold their properties at a loss in 2025. The share of such transactions was the highest across England and Wales and exceeded the national average of 8.7%. This was the first time in the past decade that London recorded such a result, reflecting tax changes and a slowdown in overall market momentum, Bloomberg reports, citing data from Hamptons.

“In London, upward house price growth no longer looks like the one-way bet it once seemed,” says Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons. Even homeowners who bought property around a decade ago may now find that selling returns less than their original purchase price. Such an outcome would have seemed almost unthinkable during the price boom of the mid-2010s.

The downturn has been most pronounced in the prime residential segment. For the second time since 2011, London recorded no property transactions above £50 million. Market activity shifted into lower price brackets: in 2025, the largest deals clustered around £40 million, while the ultra-prime segment effectively dropped out of circulation. At the same time, Savills data show that sales of homes priced above £5 million fell by 18% in the first three quarters of the year compared with the same period in 2024, pushing the market close to its lowest levels since the pandemic.



Apartments proved to be particularly vulnerable. Sellers of flats were more than six times as likely to incur losses as house owners, with the gap between the two segments widening steadily over the past decade. Apartment values came under pressure from higher ground rent agreements, rising service charges and tighter regulation in the sector of housing purchased for subsequent rental (buy-to-let).

At the same time, London sellers still achieve positive results on average. In 2025, the average sale price was around 45% higher than the original purchase price. However, most of this gain reflects historic house price growth, while current market dynamics provide a much more modest uplift.

The regional picture has also shifted. In nine of the previous ten years, North East England had the highest share of loss-making home sales. Stronger price growth in northern regions in recent years has improved performance. In 2019, around 30% of sellers in the North East sold homes for less than they paid, compared with 9.2% in London, highlighting a reversal in fortunes between northern and southern England.

The weakening of London’s market position is linked to a heavier tax burden on property transactions. Higher stamp duty and preparations for the introduction of a so-called mansion tax on homes valued above £2 million ($2.7 million) have weighed most heavily on the capital, where the bulk of high-value housing is concentrated. Against this backdrop, some sellers have been forced to offer substantial discounts over the past year, in some cases reaching up to 50% of the original asking price.



According to Hamptons, UK homes priced above £2 million — most of which are located in London — could lose an additional 5% in value in 2026 as the market adjusts to the new tax environment.

“Over the next few years, more sellers are likely to be those who missed out on the 2012–2016 house price boom and instead bought at what turned out to be the top of the market,” Beveridge notes. The national slowdown in house price growth, she adds, is likely to limit the returns homeowners can achieve when they sell in the coming years.

Analysts at International Investment note that the London market has ceased to be a universal investment environment. The financial outcome of a transaction increasingly depends on the chosen segment and timing of entry rather than location alone. Strategies focused on rapid capital appreciation are giving way to more cautious approaches with longer holding periods and a greater emphasis on asset quality and cost structure.