The average leaseholder in England and Wales pays a service charge of £2,405 a year or £200.42 a month.
This marks the first time the average service charge has passed £200 per month according to the agency conducting the analysis, Hamptons.
The average service charge ended 2025 4.6% higher than at the end of 2024.
Over the last five years, the average charge has risen 32.6%.
It increased from £1,814 a year (£151.15 a month) in 2020 to £2,405 a year (£200.42 a month) in 2025.
These rises have outstripped broader inflation.
Over the last year, service charges increased 1.2 percentage points faster than the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which came in at 3.4% over the same period.
Meanwhile, over the last five years, CPI rose 30.9% (service charges +32.6%).
And over the last decade (2016-2025), service charges increased 55.6%, far outstripping CPI (39.8%).
London has long had the highest service charges in the country and has also seen the largest increases in recent years.
Here, the average charge stands at £2,801 (£233.45 a month), up 6.4% year-on-year, 41.2% over the last five years and 64.5% over the last decade.
Higher charges in the capital typically reflect taller buildings, which offer more amenities and generally cost more to run.
Nationally, the average annual service charge of a one-bed flat is £2,074 (or £172.81 a month), up 3.3% on 2024.
The average two-bed comes with an annual charge of £2,463 (£205.28 a month), up 4.8% on last year.
And the average three-bed carries a charge of £3,146 (or £262.16 a month), passing the £3,000 a year mark for the first time and up 5.7% year-on-year.
Last year, 37% of flats across England and Wales had a service charge exceeding 1% of their value, up from 29% five years ago.
Hamptons says this matters because some mortgage lenders have tightened underwriting criteria to exclude flats where service charges routinely exceed 1% of their value (for example, a £4,000 annual service charge on a £300,000 flat).
Meanwhile, 14% of flats had a charge exceeding 2% of their value, and 6% had a charge exceeding 3%. These were disproportionately city centre flats.
With a more limited pool of lenders to choose from, borrowing to buy a flat with a higher service charge can become harder and more expensive.
Last year, the average flat had a service charge equal to 0.90% of its value.
The increase in service charges as a share of value reflects both rising service charges and falling sales values.
In much of the country, flat prices typically sit below their pre-pandemic 2019 levels, with one in five (19.9%) flat sellers in England & Wales last year achieving less than they originally paid.
Meanwhile, service charges have risen consistently over the same period.
While service charges cover apartment blocks with a wide range of amenities, higher charges can hit saleability.
Last year, flats marketed with a service charge at or below 1% of their value were 50% more likely to find a buyer than those with charges equating to 2% or more.
The number of flats with low service charges has fallen sharply. Just 14% of flats now come with a service charge of less than £100 per month, a figure which has halved from 34% five years ago.
Typically, these are found in low-rise blocks with minimal amenities.
While there is a regional element to lower service charges, the cheapest bills are often found in low-rise 1970s and 1980s builds that have stood the test of time.
Some 30% of flats in the North East still have a service charge of under £100 a month, followed by 28% in both the East Midlands and the South West.
This article is taken from Landlord Today