AIBU to be gutted my house has lost me money?

So if your property is done up it may well be worth more.
Or, the property being done up is what’s kept it above £625k, and if it were still a fixer-upper it might be worth a lot less.

How does inflation favour mortgage purchasers?

Since 2020a 2 bed nice mansion flat in nw3 would set you back 2500 a month in rent and nearer 2900 since 2023. That's significant saving for op over time

Well I'm going to go against the flow @Hotpinkparade . EA are undervaluing because their jobs are on the line. So if your property is done up it may well be worth more. Whether someone will pay more or bid on property where the owners are desperate to sell is anyone's guess.

It's a difficult market, you may find a bargain when you move up . It's a buyers market.

But during that time you've had somewhere to live. That doesn't come for free!!

Right. Inflation favours mortgage purchasers not cash buyers.
Regardless.
Op has benefitted from secure home for eight years paying less than market rent on 50% of the flat.
Some flats do not gain so much in value
But it s not an actual loss just a way of seeing things.
If she sells for 623 she gets her half share back. Which yes will buy less than it did eight years ago

There is absolutely nothing OP could have invested £625k in 2017, and ended up with £825k now

My S&S are down from what they were but still significantly up but not inflation busting

Yes, exactly.

but as you were paying no rent or mortgage you could / should have invested some cash each month, which would then have made you some profit.

as others have said, however, a flat is primarily your home, not an investment.

It does sound a bit like you may have overpaid a bit for it though in 2017.

think you just need to put it out of mind and get on with crunching the numbers and looking for a new place.

OP said "I paid £625k in 2017. (I put this into an inflation calculator that said this would be ‘worth’ £822k in 2025.) To make matters more complicated - I bought half the flat, and the other half was purchase by a trust overseen by my dad."

If she had only paid half of the £625k, she wouldn't be expecting a £200k increase in her own money.

You would never have invested £312k in 2017 and had 512k today.

But you would have still had to pay to live somewhere.

Look at it this way: you were able to weather Covid-related work downturns with a cheap roof over your head, which perhaps you wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise; your partner was able to study (to presumably expand employment opportunities for long-term financial gain) rather than work to pay off market-rate rents. You own a full half of a £625k property – wait, plus 5%, so half of £656. Giving you £328k cash to split between a substantial deposit and the stamp duty, conveyancing etc. You’re better off than 99.99% of people! You just might have to move to a new area if you want a house for your £300k deposit, and suck up paying a bit of mortgage too. That’s what most of us do when we need more space: find the place we can afford it, and tie ourselves into paying it off for 25 years.

@Hotpinkparade how much did you spend redecorating? I think it's ok to be annoyed.

I think the whole flat was £625k, not half of it.

Which means she only gets half of £625k and the rest belongs to the trust, which will need to be reinvested elsewhere.

The inflation calculator doesn’t really mean anything OP. There are too many variables when it comes to the property market.

Presumably inner west given it’s a mansion block and was 625k back in 2017 which was bit an inexpensive flat for the time.

TBH you probably should just be thankful that you haven't made a substantial loss like some people have with the cladding issues.

You've had a decent place to live for 8 years and have been mortgage free.

Your flat just hasn't turned into the cash machine that a lot of London properties did during the 00s and 10s.

Remember there are a lot of people out there who struggle to even find a place to buy.

Happened to another girl I know - bought a house circa 2016/17 in a london-but-for-people-who-could-afford-it sort of area

Nice enough & did a lovely renovation on all baths/kitchen/paint ect.

Could easily sell it for.... What she paid

Also, you say you paid 625 but you also say you only own half.

so did the flat cost 1.25m and you paid half, or did you pay 312k?

if it’s the first, then the rest saving is a lot more. If it’s the second then your 200k inflation gain should only be half that.

either way, you’re not down

There is absolutely nothing OP could have invested £625k in 2017, and ended up with £825k now. Possibly crypto I guess, but who'd be reckless enough to put £625k in crypto, rent somewhere to live and keep their fingers crossed? Inflation and return on investment are completely different things, OP seems to have the view that return on investment = inflation, which clearly it doesn't.

OP, are you prepared to say what area of London you are in? Thanks.

That’s a lot of money to spend on a flat as opposed to moving further out and buying a house instead

missing the point of the thread but that’s all I’m getting from this