Across Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, 678 of the 13,461 houses sold in 2025 were leasehold, or 5.0%, against 6.3% across England and Wales (42,113 of 666,220). Flats are the mirror image: 3,625 of 3,719 (97.5%) were leasehold. The house average hides a wide spread by postcode sector. Among terraced houses, the leasehold share runs from zero in 12 of 77 measurable sectors to 48.8% in BS7 8 in north Bristol, where 41 of 84 terraced sales in 2025 were leasehold. BS37 4 in Yate is second at 42.1% (32 of 76), followed by BA1 6 in Bath at 31.8% (21 of 66) and BS24 8 in Weston-super-Mare at 31.4% (11 of 35).
Based on 17,180 HM Land Registry standard-price sales completed in 2025 across the four councils, queried on 28 September 2026. More Homecost data analysis is in market analysis.
What the tenure flag does and does not record
The Land Registry's Price Paid Data marks each sale as freehold or leasehold, and as detached, semi-detached, terraced or flat/maisonette. Two limits matter here. First, the file records the tenure, not its terms: lease length, ground rent and service charges are not in it, and Land Registry says it does not record leases of seven years or less. Second, the property type is the register's classification, not a survey. End-of-terrace houses count as terraced, and Land Registry notes that a recorded type can be amended. So where a sale is flagged both terraced and leasehold, Homecost can report the combination but cannot say why it arises. The figures cover standard-price (category A) sales only.
Leasehold share of 2025 sales by property type and council
| Council | Detached | Semi-detached | Terraced | Flats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bath and North East Somerset | 2.5% (16 of 628) | 4.1% (30 of 727) | 8.7% (75 of 864) | 96.7% (525 of 543) |
| Bristol | 4.1% (13 of 314) | 6.6% (95 of 1,434) | 7.3% (188 of 2,580) | 98.8% (1,861 of 1,883) |
| North Somerset | 1.0% (13 of 1,250) | 3.4% (38 of 1,128) | 6.2% (49 of 789) | 95.1% (663 of 697) |
| South Gloucestershire | 0.8% (8 of 1,037) | 2.9% (41 of 1,405) | 8.6% (112 of 1,305) | 96.6% (576 of 596) |
| Four councils | 1.5% (50 of 3,229) | 4.3% (204 of 4,694) | 7.7% (424 of 5,538) | 97.5% (3,625 of 3,719) |
The share rises with each step from detached (1.5%) to semi-detached (4.3%) to terraced (7.7%). Bristol has the highest share among detached (4.1%) and semi-detached (6.6%) houses. Bath and North East Somerset is highest for terraced houses at 8.7% (75 of 864), narrowly ahead of South Gloucestershire at 8.6%. For how these compare with other cities, see which cities have the most leasehold houses; in parts of the North West, roughly six in ten house sales are leasehold.
Terraced houses: four sectors above 30%
Postcode sectors with at least 30 terraced sales in 2025 are ranked below: 77 of the 141 sectors that had any terraced sale. Fifteen sectors that extend into councils outside these four are left out, so a sector's figure is never a partial slice.
| Rank | Postcode sector | Council | Terraced sales 2025 | Leasehold | Share | Share in 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BS7 8 | Bristol | 84 | 41 | 48.8% | 63.4% (45 of 71) |
| 2 | BS37 4 | South Gloucestershire | 76 | 32 | 42.1% | 35.3% (24 of 68) |
| 3 | BA1 6 | Bath and North East Somerset | 66 | 21 | 31.8% | 32.8% (21 of 64) |
| 4 | BS24 8 | North Somerset | 35 | 11 | 31.4% | n/a (20 sales) |
| 5 | BA1 5 | Bath and North East Somerset | 33 | 7 | 21.2% | 30.0% (9 of 30) |
| 6 | BS8 4 | Bristol | 33 | 7 | 21.2% | 26.2% (11 of 42) |
| 7 | BA2 3 | Bath and North East Somerset | 53 | 11 | 20.8% | 17.2% (11 of 64) |
| 8 | BS7 9 | Bristol | 118 | 23 | 19.5% | 18.3% (22 of 120) |
| 9 | BS34 5 | South Gloucestershire | 75 | 13 | 17.3% | 15.8% (9 of 57) |
| 10 | BS34 7 | South Gloucestershire | 38 | 6 | 15.8% | 8.6% (3 of 35) |
Named places come from the Land Registry's own fields. BS37 4 is Yate on all 145 of its 2025 sales. BS7 8's most common named locality is Bishopston (31 of 141 sales; most other sales are recorded under the generic "Bristol" or left blank). BA1 6 is in Bath and BS24 8 in Weston-super-Mare.
Most sectors sit far lower. The median measurable sector had 5.0% leasehold terraced sales; 39 of the 77 were at or below 5% and 12 had none. Only 11 reached 15% or more. Across all 141 sectors with a terraced sale, the five highest hold 5.4% of terraced sales (294 of 5,408) but 26.5% of leasehold terraced sales (112 of 423).
Three of the top four were already above 30% in 2024: BS7 8 at 63.4%, BS37 4 at 35.3% and BA1 6 at 32.8%. BS24 8 had 20 terraced sales in 2024, none leasehold, so its 2025 figure is not yet an established pattern. Pooling both years gives 55.5% for BS7 8 (86 of 155) and 38.9% for BS37 4 (56 of 144).
Spread across many postcodes, not a few
In BS37 4, the 32 leasehold terraced sales were at 32 different addresses, in 22 of the 50 postcodes that had a terraced sale and on 15 of its 36 streets; no postcode had more than four. In BS7 8, the 41 sales were in 34 of 63 postcodes, with no postcode above three. None of the 105 leasehold terraced sales across the four leading sectors was flagged new-build. In both sectors the leasehold sales are spread across the sector rather than confined to a handful of addresses. The data does not show the reason for it.
Semi-detached and detached houses
| Property type | Measurable sectors (n≥30) | Sales in those sectors | Leasehold | Share | Sectors with no leasehold sale | Highest sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | 42 | 1,906 | 23 | 1.2% | 31 | BS24 8 at 15.6% (7 of 45) |
| Semi-detached | 73 | 3,657 | 141 | 3.9% | 25 | BS9 3 at 24.5% (12 of 49) |
| Terraced | 77 | 4,541 | 379 | 8.3% | 12 | BS7 8 at 48.8% (41 of 84) |
Across the measurable sectors, leasehold is 8.3% of terraced sales, 3.9% of semi-detached and 1.2% of detached. BS24 8 is the only sector in the top four for all three house types: fourth for terraced, third for semi-detached (16.2%, 12 of 74) and first for detached (15.6%, 7 of 45). Its 2024 shares were lower but still well above the four-council rates that year (semi-detached 9.8% against 4.3%, detached 8.2% against 1.4%). The two highest semi-detached sectors, BS9 3 and BS4 2 in Bristol, were at 6.7% and 2.6% a year earlier, so those readings are best treated as one-year results.
Leasehold and freehold terraced sales: what was paid
| Area | Leasehold: sales | Leasehold: median | Leasehold: at or under £300,000 | Freehold: sales | Freehold: median | Freehold: at or under £300,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bath and North East Somerset | 75 | £415,000 | 25.3% | 789 | £365,000 | 33.6% |
| Bristol | 188 | £434,000 | 22.3% | 2,392 | £375,000 | 22.4% |
| North Somerset | 49 | £220,000 | 87.8% | 740 | £270,000 | 66.5% |
| South Gloucestershire | 112 | £273,750 | 74.1% | 1,193 | £300,000 | 51.6% |
| BS7 8 (Bristol) | 41 | £618,000 | 7.3% | 43 | £560,000 | 0.0% |
| BS37 4 (Yate, South Gloucestershire) | 32 | £269,000 | 90.6% | 44 | £268,250 | 81.8% |
Medians are for 2025 terraced sales. In Bath and North East Somerset and Bristol, the leasehold median was above the freehold median (£415,000 against £365,000, and £434,000 against £375,000). In North Somerset and South Gloucestershire it was below (£220,000 against £270,000, and £273,750 against £300,000). At sector level, BS7 8's leasehold median was £618,000 against £560,000 freehold, while BS37 4's was £269,000 against £268,250 — effectively level. The council rows cover every sector in each council. BA1 6 and BS24 8, the other two leading sectors, are omitted because their leasehold samples (21 and 11) are under 30.
A median compares two groups of sales, not two otherwise-identical houses. The Price Paid file has no floor area, bedroom count or condition, so none of these gaps can be read as the price effect of tenure.
Reading a leasehold flag on a house sale
The flag tells you how a past sale was registered, not what any current owner pays. Lease length, ground rent and service charges sit in the title and the seller's paperwork, and they are matters for a solicitor or conveyancer's checks on an individual purchase. For how the terms differ in general, see freehold vs leasehold in the UK; for how stamp duty applies when a lease is extended, see SDLT on a statutory lease extension. This is general information, not advice. Speak to a qualified adviser before acting.
Explore the postcodes on Homecost
Homecost's postcode tool shows each property's type, tenure and last recorded sale price. Try BS7 8LQ in north Bristol or BS37 4LU in Yate.
Related Homecost guides for the same area: