New research from Zoopla reveals people selling homes in England and Wales over the last 18 months made an average gain of £72,000, representing a 38% increase on the purchase price. The average time between buying and selling a property was nine years.
London sellers walked away with the largest profits, with an average gain of £130,000 – enough to buy an average-priced home outright in 11 local authorities in northern England. Owners selling London properties between 20 and 25 years after purchase walked away with an average gain of £361,500.
The largest gains by property type were found in the sale of detached homes, which made an average £122,500, with flats yielding an average £27,500.
‘Home size has emerged as a powerful driver of value gains in the housing market over the last 18 months, revealing the premium additional space can command for a home’, Zoopla said.
The average gains of 45% for detached houses and 15% for flats reflect shifting buyer preferences and affordability pressures, the company added, with high mortgage costs and the desire for more space driving demand away from flats and towards terraced and semi-detached properties.
Average gains by property type
| Property Type | Avg capital gain released during sale (£) | Avg gains released during sale (%) | Avg time in property (years) | Avg sold price (£) |
| Flat | £27,000 | 15% | 9 | £220,000 |
| Terraced | £64,250 | 40% | 9 | £236,000 |
| Semi-detached | £80,000 | 44% | 9 | £273,500 |
| Detached | £122,500 | 45% | 9 | £410,000 |
Source: Zoopla Analysis 2025
The global financial crash continues to have an impact almost two decades on, the analysis found, with home owners who sold property after 15 to 20 years making less money than those who sold after a 10 to 15 year period. In Northern England, the average gain for the 15-20 year cohort was just £45,000, £30,000 less than the £75,000 secured by those who held for 10 to 15 years. ‘This market anomaly is a direct result of slower house price recovery outside of southern England following the crash’, Zoopla explained.
Gains vs length of homeownership
| Length of homeownership | London | Midlands | Northern England | Southern England | Wales |
| Less than 5 | £40,000 | £28,000 | £27,955 | £30,000 | £32,500 |
| 5 to 10 years | £52,000 | £61,500 | £55,050 | £65,000 | £65,000 |
| 10 to 15 years | £175,000 | £100,000 | £75,000 | £132,000 | £85,005 |
| 15 to 20 years | £235,000 | £85,000 | £45,000 | £136,250 | £60,050 |
| 20+ years | £361,500 | £156,200 | £121,000 | £225,000 | £130,050 |
Source: Zoopla Research 2025
Long-term ownership continues to offer the highest gains, with owners who stayed in their homes for 20 to 25 years bypassing the impact of financial crash peak entirely and benefitting from multiple periods of strong growth.
The average seller in this group with a London property gained £361,500 in capital, the single largest increase across Great Britain. Even outside the capital, gains are substantial for the 20 to 25 year group, securing £225,000 in Southern England and £121,000 in Northern England.
Sellers in London and the South East consistently see the largest monetary gains when a property is sold, primarily due to higher property values, longer average tenure and stronger house price growth up until 2016. The average seller in London has gained £130,000 (35% of the average purchase price) while those in the North East gained just £35,000 on average (26% original purchase price).
Wales, the North West and the Midlands all recorded appreciation of 41-45%, with those who bought at a lower initial price point still able to benefit from decent gains. But Zoopla executive director Richard Donnell warned home owners the healthy gains are unlikely to be repeated.
‘British homeowners are sitting on sizable capital gains from years of historic house price inflation which varies widely by geography and property type’, he said.
“The scale of gains from historic price inflation is unlikely to be repeated in future with lower levels of annual price inflation in more recent years than in the past.”
Table 3: Average gains by region
| Region | Avg. gains crystalised during sale (£) | Avg. gains crystalised during sale (%) | Avg time in property (years) | Median sold price |
| London | £130,000 | 35% | 10 | £513,000 |
| South East | £94,000 | 35% | 9 | £370,000 |
| East | £84,000 | 36% | 9 | £330,000 |
| South West | £80,005 | 37% | 8 | £303,000 |
| West Mids | £70,000 | 41% | 9 | £247,000 |
| E Midlands | £68,000 | 41% | 8 | £243,000 |
| Wales | £65,000 | 45% | 9 | £210,000 |
| North West | £62,000 | 42% | 9 | £215,000 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | £55,000 | 38% | 9 | £205,000 |
| Scotland | £37,200 | 24% | 6 | £154,700 |
| North East | £35,000 | 26% | 9 | £165,000 |
| UK | £72,100 | 38% | 9 | £285,000 |
Source: Zoopla Research 2025
