Selling a flat: has it kept pace with house prices?

No. In England, the average flat or maisonette cost £195,037 in July 2016, more than the average terraced house at £175,972. By July 2026 the flat stood at £217,362 and the terraced house at £247,081. Over ten years flats rose 11.4%. Terraced houses rose 40.4%.

open for offer is the pre-market, the market that exists before a property is ever advertised. This piece is for flat owners who have not listed, and who keep reading that prices are going up.

Ten years, four types of home

The figures below are HM Land Registry's UK House Price Index for England, July 2016 against July 2026. Each is the index's average price for that type of home in that month.

Type of home	July 2016	July 2026	Change	Change
Flat or maisonette	£195,037	£217,362	£22,325	11.4%
Terraced	£175,972	£247,081	£71,109	40.4%
Semi-detached	£203,961	£292,024	£88,063	43.2%
Detached	£346,861	£474,626	£127,765	36.8%
All homes	£217,970	£293,479	£75,509	34.6%

Read the first two rows together. In 2016 the average flat was worth £19,065 more than the average terraced house. Ten years later it is worth £29,719 less. The two swapped places.

The headline everyone quotes is the last row. It says a home in England gained 34.6% in a decade. For the average flat, the gain was a third of that.

The last 12 months

The gap is not closing. In the 12 months to July 2026, the index shows:

• Flats and maisonettes: down 3.5%, from £225,181 to £217,362.
• Terraced: up 2.3%.
• Semi-detached: up 2.7%.
• Detached: up 1.4%.
• All homes: up 1.1%.

Flats were the only type of home in England whose average price fell over the year. A flat owner who reads "prices up 1.1%" and adds it to what they paid is working from a number that moved the wrong way for them.

The July 2026 figures are provisional. HM Land Registry revises recent months as more sales are registered, so the last few months can move. The ten-year picture above is not in doubt; the latest month is.

London explains part of it, not all

Flats are a bigger share of the market in London than anywhere else, so it is fair to ask whether the England figure is a London story. It is partly. But the same pattern holds outside the capital.

Region	Flats, July 2016 to July 2026	Terraced, July 2016 to July 2026
London	-2.3%	19.0%
East of England	8.8%	28.8%
East Midlands	30.2%	49.6%

In London the average flat is worth less than it was ten years ago: £424,013 in July 2026 against £433,809 in July 2016. In the East of England, which takes in Cambridge and Peterborough, flats rose by less than a third as much as terraced houses. In the East Midlands flats did well, up 30.2%, and terraced houses still did better.

The index records what happened. It does not say why, and we will not guess at it here.

The sum that goes wrong

Here is how the mistake happens. Take a flat bought for £195,037 in July 2016, the average that month. Add the all-homes rise of 34.6% and you arrive at £262,520. That is the number the headline invites you to carry around.

The average flat in July 2026 was £217,362. The headline sum is £45,158 too high. Price from it and you are asking buyers for £45,158 the evidence does not show.

What this means if you own a flat

Two things follow, and neither is that your flat is worth less than you think. It may be worth more. The point is which evidence you start from.

• The average is not your market. National and regional averages blend every type of home. If you own a flat, the house price headline tells you about houses.
• What you paid plus the headline is the wrong sum. Over the last ten years that sum overstates the average flat by a wide margin. Over the last year it points the wrong way.

The better starting point is flats that have actually sold near you: in your building, on your street, in your postcode. HM Land Registry publishes the price paid on every completed sale in England and Wales, and those sales are the closest thing to your own market that exists.

Before you choose a number

open for offer holds a market estimate for addresses across England, built from the home's last recorded sale adjusted for price movement in the area since. See the market estimate for your address. Looking it up does not list your home.

An estimate tells you where the evidence points. It cannot tell you whether a buyer wants your flat at that number. Buyers can register interest in your home before it is ever advertised, whether or not you pay, and you decide what happens next. See how testing the market works.

Testing the market is £9.99 a month, cancel any time.