Have we made a financial mistake buying our flat rather than renting?

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We bought our flat in 2016 for £670k. It’s a one bedroom flat in a conversion with a terrace in zone 1/2 borders. We spend around £6,000 a year on service charge. Our interest rate is now 4.8%.

The total monthly cost of running and maintaining this place is £3,700 a month. On the open rental market, it would fetch around £2,800.

We have just had it valued for £650k.

We have therefore lost a significant amount of money vs if we had rented and invested our deposit in stocks and shares.

Behind the scenes large commercial landlords will be quietly trying to sell units, they can afford to drop prices to get rid, heavily mortgaged private landlords can"t.

https://www.ft.com/content/1372a542-50a4-459b-9698-2eca86a99b8f?syn-25a6b1a6=1

The generation of homeowners trapped in unsellable flats.
The article says that the average price of a flat in the UK is £192,000, yet the average service charge in England and Wales is £2,405, rising to £2,800 in London, according to Hamptons.
Nationwide, the UK’s biggest provider of first-time buyer mortgages, has a number of stipulations on lending for leasehold properties. Those with service charges greater than 1pc of property value, ground rents greater than 0.1pc or leases ending in 55-85 years may have to be referred for additional scrutiny.
Similar policies concerning annual fees exist at other major banks and building societies, from Santander to TSB.
“Lenders were asleep at the wheel of leasehold for years when money was cheap – but now they are quite rightly wanting to protect their security and these service charges are unsustainable”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/b100a1dc0bb48158

You paid the price of flats at the time so know you didn’t overpay.

A 10% hit on 1999 prices?

You did overpay in investment terms though.

Obviously not

You will struggle to sell at only 10% off today"s asking prices.

I’m not selling anything so I don’t know what you’re talking about 🥱