JUST over nine in 10 people who sold their home across England and Wales last year made a profit on what they originally paid - with an average gain of more than £88,000.

Some 91% of sellers sold their property for more than they paid for it, edging up from 90% in 2017, analysis by Hamptons International found.

The average gain in 2018 was £88,470 more than what sellers had paid, having owned their home for nine years on average.

While the proportion of sellers making a profit increased, the average gain edged slightly down compared with £90,580 in 2017.

Hamptons said sellers in London and the South East were less likely to sell their house for a profit in 2018 than they were the year before.

In all other regions of England, as well as across Wales, house sellers were more likely to sell for a profit in 2018.

In the South West, the average gain for sellers was more than £81,000.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons International, said: "With more sellers in the North but fewer sellers in London making a profit in 2018, the average gain has fallen since 2017."

She said this was because sellers in the North do not tend to make gains as large as those in the South, but despite some recent slowdowns in house price growth "most owners are still sitting on plenty of growth from previous years".

In another change compared with 2017, sellers in the East of England were more likely than those in London to make a profit last year, with 98% compared with 97%.

Hamptons International analysed Land Registry data to make the findings.

It purely looked at house sale prices, so the findings do not take into account moving-related costs such as stamp duty that sellers may incur which would eat into any gains made on the sale.

It also looked at the hotspots where sellers were particularly likely to make large gains last year.

In London, sellers in Kensington and Chelsea made an average profit of £992,340, with 93% making a gain.

This equates to just over 11 times the average seller profit made last year generally.

Across London, the average profit was £237,190 - around two and-a-half times the average across England and Wales.

In Wales, sellers in the Vale of Glamorgan made the biggest gains at £70,520 on average..

In northern England, Trafford, Harrogate and North Tyneside were areas were sellers were particularly likely to have made large gains.

Ms Beveridge said: "House prices have grown considerably over the nine-year period that the average seller has owned their home.

"As a result, the proportion of sellers making a profit on their property continues to rise.

"Many sellers will have added value by renovating, extending or developing, but the bulk of their gains have come from house price growth."

Here are the average seller gains in 2018, with the percentage of sellers making a gain, according to Hamptons International:

- East Midlands, £56,520, 93%

- East of England, £111,920, 98%

- London, £237,190, 97%

- North East, £25,190, 70%

- North West, £44,690, 83%

- South East, £123,380, 97%

- South West, £81,170, 95%

- Wales, £41,600, 85%

- West Midlands, £58,450, 91%

- Yorkshire and the Humber, £43,010, 84%

Here are the seller hotspots by region for 2018 with the average gain:

- East Midlands, South Northamptonshire, £100,880

- East of England, Three Rivers, £224,600

- London, Kensington and Chelsea, £992,340

- North East, North Tyneside, £37,280

- North West, Trafford, £112,880

- South East, South Buckinghamshire, £260,990

- South West, Bath and North East Somerset, £138,360

- Wales, Vale Of Glamorgan, £70,520

- West Midlands, Warwick, £108,510

- Yorkshire and the Humber, Harrogate, £89,080