What the Land Registry price data includes
HM Land Registry Price Paid Data is the official record of property sales in England and Wales. It covers sales lodged for registration since January 1995 and is updated every month. Every figure on House Price Monitor comes from it.
Each sale is one row of data with a fixed set of fields. Knowing what those fields mean, and which sales are not included, helps you read sold prices correctly.
The basic details of each sale
Every record has the price paid, the date of transfer and the address. The price is the amount stated on the transfer deed. The date of transfer is the date the sale completed, not the date it was registered.
The address is split into parts. The primary name is usually the house number or name. The secondary name is the flat or unit, where there is one. Then come the street, locality, town, district, county and postcode. The postcode is the one used at the time of the sale, so it is not updated if Royal Mail later changes it.
There is also a unique ID for each transaction. In the monthly files, a record status shows whether a row is a new sale, a change to an earlier one or a deletion.
Property type
Each sale is given one of five property types: D for detached, S for semi-detached, T for terraced, F for flat or maisonette, and O for other. End of terrace houses count as terraced. Bungalows are not shown separately, so they appear as detached, semi-detached or terraced.
Other is used only where a sale does not fit the four main types, for example a sale made up of more than one large parcel of land.
New build and established homes
A new build flag shows whether the property was newly built (Y) or an established home (N). New homes can sell at different prices from older homes nearby, so it helps to look at the two separately when comparing.
A single new development can also add a large number of sales to a postcode in a short time. Knowing which sales are new builds makes it easier to spot when that has happened.
Tenure: freehold and leasehold
The duration field shows the tenure. F means freehold, where the buyer owns the building and the land outright. L means leasehold, where the buyer owns the home for a set number of years under a lease. Most flats are leasehold. Leases of seven years or less are not recorded.
The data does not show how many years are left on a lease. A flat with a short lease can sell for much less than a similar flat with a long one, so bear that in mind when comparing leasehold sales.
Standard and additional price paid
Since October 2013 each sale has had a category. Category A is a standard price paid entry: a single residential property sold for its full market value.
Category B is an additional price paid entry. It covers repossessions and other sales under a power of sale, buy-to-let purchases where they can be identified by a mortgage, purchases by companies and other organisations rather than private individuals, and sales with the property type Other.
Category B sales are still real sales at real prices. House Price Monitor counts the residential ones, including buy-to-let, company purchases and repossessions, alongside the standard sales.
What is left out, including commercial property
Only sales for value that are lodged with HM Land Registry are included. Several kinds of transfer are not in the data at all. These include gifts, transfers on divorce or between family members that are not a sale, right to buy sales at a discount, sales subject to an existing mortgage, compulsory purchases, transfers ordered by a court and transfers to trustees.
Sales where the price is stated as including VAT are also left out. Because of these exclusions, the data shows the open market for homes rather than every change of ownership.
Price Paid Data is built around residential sales. Some commercial property sales that quote a price can appear. They are not a complete record of commercial property.
House Price Monitor leaves out sales of land, mixed-use and other non-residential property, and transfers under £10,000, which record a nominal value rather than a sale. That keeps the figures to homes bought and sold. Our about page sets out these rules in full.
Prices for your postcode
The postcode and street pages on House Price Monitor are free to read and show the typical sold price for homes in each area. Find yours on the postcodes page.
The full monthly report for a postcode district lists every sale with its property type, tenure and new build status. It costs £4.99 a month and the first report is free when you sign up. See pricing. Estate agents and brokers can use the professional plan for up to five postcodes and valuation packs of comparable sales.
Not in the data
Price Paid Data does not record bedrooms, floor area, condition, lease length remaining or who bought the home. It covers England and Wales only.
Other guides
How to find what a house sold for
Why sold prices take months to appear
Comparing house prices between streets and postcodes