In the North West 21.8% of all new houses were sold as leasehold in 2018, more than any other area but down from 58.5% in 2017.
The North West of England is the area that had the most new houses sold as leaseholds in 2018, ONS data has found.
In the North West 21.8% of all new houses were sold as leasehold in 2018, more than any other area but down from 58.5% in 2017.
In 2018 there were 3,242 new houses sold as leasehold in England and Wales. Out of these, two-thirds were in the North West.
All other English regions, and Wales, had relatively low percentage shares, ranging from 1% in the North East to 9% in Yorkshire and The Humber.
Within the North West, the Greater Manchester area had the highest percentage of new house sales that were leasehold in 2018.
In 2018, there were 3,242 new houses and 41,686 existing houses sold as leasehold in England and Wales.
Sales of new leasehold houses accounted for 4.2% of all new houses sold in 2018, a large drop from the previous year (13.3%). Sales of existing leasehold houses in 2018 remained similar to 2017, at 6.6% of all sales of existing houses.
The proportions of both new and existing houses sold as leasehold were similar until around 2004, after which there was an increase in the percentage of transactions of new houses that were leasehold.
Larger increases followed in 2015 and 2016, when the percentage of new houses sold as leasehold peaked at 15.1% of all new houses. The percentage of existing houses sold as leasehold has remained stable throughout.
The fall in new houses being sold as leasehold was across all house types in 2018, with each dropping by more than half compared with the previous year. New terraced houses were the most likely to be sold as leasehold, with 6.7% of all new terraced houses being sold as leasehold in 2018.
The largest percentage drop was for sales of new leasehold detached houses, which fell from 12.2% of all new detached houses sold as leasehold in 2017, to 3.1% in 2018.
In England and Wales, 4.2% of all new houses were sold as leasehold in 2018. In the North West, 21.8% of new house sales were leasehold in 2018, with only around 1% of new houses in the North East being sold as leasehold.
London had the second-highest percentage, with 15.9% of new house sales that were leasehold. This was a relatively small drop from 2017.
