Land Registry residential property price report

Citation

(1998), "Land Registry residential property price report", Property Management, Vol. 16 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.1998.11316bab.015

Land Registry residential property price report

Land Registry residential property price report

Keywords Property market, Residential property

The Land Registry published the latest in its series of quarterly residential property price reports, covering the period July-September 1997 (see Table IV).

The data, which covers the whole of England and Wales, is broken down by property type and by County and Unitary Authority, to include the new Unitary Authorities introduced on 1 April 1997. As before, the figures also incorporate average prices and number of sales within Greater London by individual London Boroughs (see Table V).

The report for the third quarter of 1997 compares average prices and volume of sales with those for the same period in 1996, illustrating trends over the last year (see Figure 9).

It also updates the figures for the previous (April-June, 1997) quarter, by including all transfers relating to that period which were received in the Registry by 31 October 1997.

A breakdown of the average sale prices of old and new properties by property type is also incorporated.

Sales in this context are taken to mean the transfer of ownership for value of freehold and long leasehold residential properties, whether or not the purchase was supported by a mortgage.

No weighting or adjustment is applied to the information collected to reflect any seasonal or other factors. The price data can be said to be actual unadjusted averages, drawn from the great majority of all residential sales in England and Wales completed during the period.

Commenting on these latest figures, Chief Land Registrar and Chief Executive Dr Stuart Hill said:

"These Land Registry reports are intended to complement information available from other sources. Any comparison with other data should have regard to the differences in volume, timeliness and coverage of contributing transactions."

"Twelve new unitary authorities were created on 1 April 1997 and it is important to bear in mind the creation of these new authorities when considering price movements in those counties affected by these boundary changes ­ direct comparisons may not be entirely meaningful."

"I am sure those receiving these reports will want to put their own interpretation on the data they contain, in order to arrive at a balanced view of what is really happening within the residential property market."

"The Land Registry now offers "bespoke reports", showing aggregated data for any local authority district in England and Wales; there is a charge of £25 (VAT inclusive) for each district requested."

"The Land Registry internet site contains a full copy of these and previous reports, together with other useful information on the work of the Land Registry. The figures shown for the most recent quarterly report will be updated each month."

This latest residential property price report, together with all back issues and other information, can be accessed on the Land Registry's internet site: http://www.open.gov.k/landreg/home.htm

Unitary Authority Changes

Twelve new Unitary Authorities were created on 1 April 1997. It is important to consider the impact of the creation of new Unitary Authorities when considering price movements in those counties affected by the subsequent boundary changes. Meaningful comparisons between the figures published in these cases cannot be made. The areas affected are shown in Table VI.

Bespoke reports

Property price reports can now be ordered showing aggregated data for any district in England and Wales (a full list is available on request or may be downloaded from our Web site). For each Local Authority District there is a charge of £25 (inc. VAT).

Published data

Average price data for the current period can now be compared with the equivalent period in 1996. Volume of sales, however, are not directly comparable. The volume table for July-September 1996 is complete but that for July-September 1997 will not be so for a number of months. This is due to the time lag between completion of house purchases and their lodgement at the Land Registry. If you wish to draw volume comparisons with equivalent periods then please refer to earlier reports (available free on request or from our web site). Where the number of sales is less than three no average price is shown, also where small volumes are shown the average price may not be representative.

Figure 9 Average price for all property types by region

Statistics on disk

These statistics are available on disk together with updates for the four previous quarters. Disks are for PC only and are in spreadsheet format. Please specify your preferred software (including version number) to ensure compatibility. There is a charge of £10 per disk (no VAT is payable).