In the mid-2010s, roughly one new-build house in seven sold in England and Wales was leasehold. In 2016, the peak year, the share was 15.0%. By 2025 it was 0.4%. Over the same years, leasehold resale houses held steady at about 7% of sales.
The change is a break, not a slow slide. The leasehold share of new-build houses fell from 13.2% in 2017 to 4.2% in 2018, even though more new-build houses were sold in 2018 than in 2017.
How the figures are built
The figures use HM Land Registry Price Paid Data for England and Wales, covering sales from 2008 to 2025. Only standard-price sales are counted, and only detached, semi-detached and terraced houses. Flats are excluded. The register marks each sale as either new build or resale.
Tenure is taken from Homecost's address table, which holds the most recent tenure recorded for each address. It is not the tenure at the date of sale, so a house that was later converted to freehold would appear as freehold for every year. The data were fetched on 5 October 2026. Based on 11,755,328 house sales recorded by HM Land Registry in England and Wales, 2008 to 2025, of which 1,080,827 were new builds.
Leasehold share by sale year
| Year | New-build houses sold | Leasehold (new build) | Resale houses sold | Leasehold (resale) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 34,706 | 11.0% | 468,270 | 7.5% |
| 2012 | 42,568 | 9.1% | 503,064 | 6.0% |
| 2015 | 69,109 | 12.3% | 668,642 | 6.7% |
| 2016 | 71,214 | 15.0% | 664,957 | 7.1% |
| 2017 | 75,604 | 13.2% | 660,325 | 7.1% |
| 2018 | 80,852 | 4.2% | 634,401 | 7.1% |
| 2019 | 83,451 | 1.6% | 612,188 | 7.1% |
| 2021 | 89,020 | 1.0% | 811,935 | 6.8% |
| 2023 | 62,080 | 0.5% | 510,054 | 7.2% |
| 2025 | 38,040 | 0.4% | 628,180 | 6.7% |
Across 2008 to 2025, leasehold houses made up 6.7% of all house sales in the data. The new-build and resale figures sit on very different paths.
The peak was 2015 to 2017
Across 2015 to 2017, 29,194 of the 215,927 new-build houses sold (13.5%) were leasehold. Across 2023 to 2025, 723 of the 158,285 new-build houses sold (0.5%) were. Resale houses were close to 7% in both periods. The leasehold share for existing stock barely moved. The big change was in new builds.
The break came in 2018
The new-build leasehold share fell from 13.2% in 2017 to 4.2% in 2018 and 1.6% in 2019. The number of new-build houses sold did not fall. It rose to 80,852 in 2018 and 83,451 in 2019. After 2018, new-build houses were almost all sold freehold.
The register records the tenure outcome, not the reason for it. These figures cannot show whether the change came from builders' choices, buyers' preferences, policy or a mix of all three. The 2018 break also came before the leasehold reforms that followed. The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 restricted ground rent on most new long residential leases, and the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 changed lease extension and freehold purchase rules. Gov.uk sets out the current position on leasehold property and ground rent.
Resale houses followed a different path
Among resale houses, the leasehold share was 7.5% in 2008, 6.0% in 2012, 7.1% in each year from 2016 to 2019 and 6.7% in 2025. Leasehold resale houses are a long-standing part of the stock, and they are concentrated in some regions. The regional patterns are covered in leasehold vs freehold house share by major city and leasehold houses in the North West.
What the 2025 figure does and does not show
2025 is the latest year in the data. New-build house sales that year were 38,040, which is 5.7% of house sales. In each year from 2018 to 2024 the new-build share was between 9.3% and 12.0%. Registration can lag the sale date, so the latest year may be incomplete, and the 5.7% figure may partly reflect that.
The 0.4% leasehold share does not rest on 2025 alone. In every year from 2019 to 2024, the share was between 0.5% and 1.6%.
What this means for a buyer
A property's tenure is recorded on its title at HM Land Registry. A conveyancer confirms the tenure before exchange. Leasehold adds lease terms and, in many cases, ground rent and service charges. Freehold estates can carry estate management charges too, as covered in estate management charges on freehold new-build houses.
This is general information, not legal or financial advice. Speak to a qualified adviser before acting.
Try the tool
Enter M1 1AE in the Homecost postcode tool to see the recorded sales and True Cost view for homes on that postcode. For comparisons, see new-build vs resale costs and the new-build premium by council area, or browse more market analysis.