Land Registry Price Paid Data: coverage, updates and missing sales
Address Lens uses HM Land Registry Price Paid Data for recorded residential sales in England and Wales going back to 1995. Scotland and Northern Ireland publish separately. The dataset gives the recorded sale price and completion date, not a current valuation. It updates monthly, and a recent or excluded sale may be missing. Start with the record's date, property type and tenure before using it to compare a home you want to buy.
What each record contains
- Price paid — the sale price stated on the transfer deed, not an estimate.
- Date of transfer — when the sale completed.
- Address and postcode of the property.
- Property type — detached, semi-detached, terraced, flat/maisonette, or other.
- Tenure — freehold or leasehold.
- New build flag — whether it was the first sale of a newly built home.
A buyer example: what a past sale can tell you
Suppose a listing asks £325,000 and a matched record shows a £250,000 sale several years earlier. That difference alone does not tell you whether the asking price is fair. Check that the record is for the same home, then compare its completion date, property type and tenure with more recent, similar sales. Condition and alterations need separate evidence. This is an illustrative example, not a valuation of a real property.
If the latest sale is missing, you cannot treat the older price as the seller's purchase price without checking. Ask about the missing transaction and use the missing sold-price checklist.
Category A and category B sales
Since October 2013 the dataset has two categories. Category A is the standard price paid entry: a single residential property sold for value. Category B covers "additional" transactions — repossessions and other transfers under a power of sale, buy-to-lets where they can be identified by a mortgage, transfers to non-private individuals, and sales where the property type is recorded as "Other". Category B prices can sit well away from open-market value, so a serious comparison treats them differently — which is why a raw average of every row can mislead. Our guide to category A and B sales works through how a single repossession drags a street average below every genuine market sale on it.
When the data updates
HM Land Registry publishes updates monthly, on the 20th working day of each month. Eligible sales must be lodged for registration. Submitting that information and publishing the dataset are distinct from completing the title-registration application. A recent sale may be absent and then appear in a later update; an asking price or exchange alone is not a completed sale. See when a sold price appears for the steps to check.
Why a sale can be missing
- No money changed hands — transfers not involving monetary consideration, such as gifts, inheritance and shares transferred on divorce, aren't included. Nor are compulsory purchases, court orders or transfers to trustees.
- Right-to-buy discounts — discounted council-house sales are excluded.
- Short leases — leases of seven years or less are not recorded in Price Paid Data.
- It's simply too recent — submission, processing or publication delay, as above.
- It's outside England & Wales — Scotland (Registers of Scotland) and Northern Ireland publish separately.
Frequently asked questions
How often does HM Land Registry update house prices?
Monthly, on the 20th working day of each month. Eligible sales must first be lodged for registration. Later releases can add or correct earlier records, so a missing recent sale has no guaranteed publication date.
Why can't I find a sold price for a property?
The most common reasons are registration lag, a transfer type that is excluded (gifts, inheritance and other transfers involving no monetary consideration), a right-to-buy discount, a lease originally granted for seven years or less, or a sale outside England and Wales.
Does Price Paid Data include Scotland and Northern Ireland?
No. It covers England and Wales. Scotland's sales are published by Registers of Scotland and Northern Ireland publishes separately.