Land Registry - latest residential property price reports

Citation

(1998), "Land Registry - latest residential property price reports", Property Management, Vol. 16 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.1998.11316dab.001

Land Registry - latest residential property price reports

Land Registry ­ latest residential property price reports

The Land Registry published its quarterly residential property price reports, covering the period January-March 1998.

Also published is the Registry's annual review, providing information on the volume of sales and average property prices for 1997 and comparisons with 1996.

The report for the first quarter of 1998, compares average prices and volume of sales with those for the same period in 1997, illustrating trends over the past year. It incorporates a breakdown of the average sale prices of old versus new properties, by property type.

The data, which covers the whole of England and Wales, are broken down by property type and county, to include the new unitary authorities introduced on 1 April 1997. The figures also incorporate average property prices and volume of sales within Greater London, broken down by individual London boroughs.

Sales in this context are taken to mean the transfer of ownership for value of freehold or long leasehold 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.

As highlighted in the quarterly report, 12 new unitary authorities were created on 1 April 1997. When considering price movements in those counties affected by these boundary changes, it is important to bear in mind the creation of these new authorities ­ direct comparisons may not be meaningful.

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.

The Land Registry is also able to provide "bespoke reports" on request, for which a fee is charged. These show aggregated data for any local authority district in England and Wales; any postcode area (e.g. GL); any postcode district (e.g. GL1); or any postcode sector (e.g. GL1 2).

The report for the quarter January-March 1998, demonstrates a number of developments within the property market for England and Wales:

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  a total of 40 per cent of the volume of sales and 53 per cent of the total value are accounted for by London and the South East;

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  a relatively modest price increase in London and the South East has led to a small (0.6 per cent) increase in the average house price for the whole of England and Wales;

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  when London and the South East are excluded, the average price for the rest of England and Wales has dropped slightly;

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  when comparing the first quarter of 1997 with the first quarter of 1998, the average all properties price in England and Wales has increased by 9.4 per cent;

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  over the same period the volume of sales has decreased by 3.7 per cent.

Turning to the 1997 annual review:

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  within average price bands, the highest volume of sales moved up from £40,001-£50,000 to £50,001-£60,000;

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  the highest average prices paid in 1997 were for properties within Greater London postcode sectors;

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  conversely, the lowest average prices paid during 1997 were for properties in North and mid-Wales postcode sectors;

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  in 1997, the average prices for new properties were significantly higher than for existing (older) properties;

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  of all sales in 1997, 24.8 per cent were completed without a mortgage (compared with 23.6 per cent in 1996 and 24.1 per cent in 1995).

The Land Registry Internet site contains a full copy of both of these new reports and all previous reports, together with other useful information on the work of the Land Registry. It can be accessed on: http://www.open.gov.uk/landreg/home.htm