PR 08/12
29 May 2012

April Market Trend Data from Land Registry

April house prices down 0.3 per cent since March: average house price in England and Wales now £160,417
South East tops the table of regional applications with 233,486 in April
Over 51,000 residential property sale prices in England and Wales lodged for registration in April ranging from £8,000 to £55 million

The April data from Land Registry's flagship House Price Index shows an annual price decrease of 1.0 per cent which takes the average property value in England and Wales to £160,417. The monthly change from March to April is a decrease of 0.3 per cent.

The region in England and Wales which experienced the highest increase in its average property value over the last 12 months is London with a movement of 5.1 per cent.
London also experienced the greatest monthly rise with an increase of 5.1 per cent.
Yorkshire & The Humber experienced the greatest annual price fall with a decrease of 5.6 per cent.
West Midlands saw the most significant monthly price fall with a decrease of 2.7 per cent.
The most up-to-date figures available show that during February 2012, the number of completed house sales in England and Wales increased by 9 per cent to 43,331 compared with 39,670 in February 2011.
The number of properties sold in England and Wales for over £1 million in February 2012 decreased by 3 per cent to 462 from 478 in February 2011.

Access the full dataset: http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/house-prices-and-sales

Region	Monthly change (since March 2012)	Annual change (since April 2011)	Average price (April 2012)
London	5.1%	5.1%	£360,721
South West	2.0%	0.5%	£174,261
South East	0.1%	0.4%	£206,816
East	0.1%	0.5%	£173,357
Wales	-0.1%	-4.6%	£114,762
England & Wales	-0.3%	-1.0%	£160,417
East Midlands	-0.3%	-1.1%	£123,429
North West	-1.3%	-3.2%	£110,954
North East	-2.1%	-3.3%	£101,034
Yorkshire & The Humber	-2.4%	-5.6%	£115,783
West Midlands	-2.7%	-4.1%	£126,527

Average prices by property type (England and Wales)	April 2012	April 2011	Difference
Detached	£257,767	£255,093	1.0%
Semi-detached	£151,073	£153,073	-1.3%
Terraced	£120,862	£123,473	-2.1%
Flat/maisonette	£149,508	£151,879	-1.6%
All	£160,417	£162,019	-1.0%

Month	Sales 2011 (England and Wales)	Sales 2010 (England and Wales)	Difference
January	37,592	35,876	5%
February	39,670	42,572	-7%
March	46,725	51,457	-9%
April	50,698	52,330	-3%
May	48,943	52,229	-6%
June	57,645	62,774	-8%
July	62,237	67,521	-8%
August	64,298	61,511	5%
September	63,391	57,504	10%
October	57,768	58,667	-2%
November	60,055	56,344	7%
December	62,955	56,891	11%
Total	651,977	655,676	-1%

Month	Sales 2012 (England and Wales)	Sales 2011 (England and Wales)	Difference
January	43,058	37,592	15%
February	43,331	39,670	9%

The Transaction Data shows Land Registry received over 1 million applications from all its customers (account and non-account) in April. This includes 931,857 applications by account customers, of which:

229,615 were applications in respect of registered land (dealings)
500,063 were applications to obtain an official copy of a register or title plan
131,252 were searches
57,091 were transactions for value.

Access the full dataset: http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/market-trend-data/public-data/transaction-data

Top three customers	Transactions for value
Stevensons	6,810
My Home Move Ltd	1,368
Countrywide Property Lawyers	1,353

Top three customers	Searches
Enact	5,296
Optima Legal Services	4,501
NLIS Operations	3,457

Top three local authorities	Applications
City of Westminster	15,597
Birmingham	15,161
Cornwall	12,300

Region	Applications
South East	233,486
Greater London	178,370
North West	113,150
South West	101,796
West Midlands	84,997
Yorks & Humber	83,047
East Midlands	71,393
Wales	50,139
North	48,753
East Anglia	40,693
Isles of Scilly	39
England & Wales (not assigned)	29
England & Wales	1,005,892

The Price Paid Data includes details of over 51,000 residential property sales in England and Wales that were lodged for registration in April 2012.

The most expensive property sold for just under £55 million in March 2012 and is located in central London; the cheapest property is in Colne, Lancashire and sold for £8,000 in March 2012. Access the full dataset at http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/market-trend-data/public-data/price-paid-data

ENDS

Notes to editors

The May House Price Index (HPI) and Transaction and Price Paid data sets will all be published at 11am on Monday 2 July 2012.
Market Trend Data is published on the twentieth working day of each month.
The Open Government Licence (OGL) developed by the National Archives permits the free use and re-use of public sector information. For further information visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence
The Public Data Group brings together Land Registry, Companies House, the Met Office and Ordnance Survey to work collectively on pursuing opportunities and driving efficiencies as well as on making their data available to users and re-users at a reduced cost or for free.
With the largest transactional database of its kind detailing over 23 million titles, Land Registry underpins the economy by safeguarding ownership of many billions of pounds worth of property.
As part of its commitment to the Government’s priorities of economic growth and data transparency, detailed Land Registry price paid information is now available monthly in addition to the House Price Index and transaction data.
Price Paid Data is residential property price data for all the residential property sales in England and Wales that are lodged with us for registration in that month. The following information is available for each property:
- the full address
- the price paid
- the date of transfer
- the property type
- whether it is new build or not
- whether it is freehold or leasehold.
It can be downloaded from the Land Registry website as a monthly snapshot of our price paid database at http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/market-trend-data/public-data/price-paid-data and is available for anyone to examine or reuse free of charge under the OGL.
For historical Price Paid Data, email addvalueservices@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk or ring 0800 678 1678. There is a charge for these reports.
The HPI uses a sample size that is larger than all other statistical measures available. It is calculated using Land Registry's dataset of all residential property sales completed in England and Wales since January 1995.
Land Registry's dataset contains details on 16 million residential transactions. Of these, over six million are identifiable matched pairs, providing the basis for the repeat sales regression analysis used to complete the index. This technique of quality adjustment ensures an "apples to apples" comparison between properties.
The monthly Transaction Data shows how many applications for first registrations, leases, transfers of part, dealings, official copies and searches were lodged by Land Registry account customers. For an explanation of the terms used, see http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/market-trend-data/public-data/faqs#m11
Transactions for value include freehold and leasehold sales.
Most searches carried out by a solicitor or conveyancer are to protect the purchase and/or mortgage. For example, a search will give the buyer priority for an application to Land Registry to register the purchase of the property. For information about the different types of search, see http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/market-trend-data/public-data/faqs#m11
This year marks the 150^th anniversary of Land Registry. As a government department established in 1862, executive agency and trading fund responsible to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Land Registry keeps and maintains the Land Register for England and Wales. The Land Register has been an open document since 1990.
For further information about Land Registry visit www.landregistry.gov.uk

Contact

Marion Shelley 0300 0067543, 07790 690297
marion.shelley@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk
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