HM Land Registry Price Paid Data: What's Included, What's Excluded and How to Use It

What Is Price Paid Data?

HM Land Registry Price Paid Data (PPD) is a dataset containing the price paid for every registered residential property transaction in England and Wales since 1995. It is derived from the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) returns submitted to HMRC at completion, combined with the land registration data submitted to HMLR. The dataset is published as open data under the Open Government Licence and is updated monthly.

Price Paid Data is the primary source for most property market analysis in England and Wales. It underpins the UK House Price Index (published jointly by HMLR and the Office for National Statistics), is used by lenders for automated valuation models, and is referenced in millions of searches on property portals and local authority planning documents each year.

What Does Price Paid Data Include?

Each record in the PPD contains:

• The price paid (the consideration reported on the SDLT return).
• The date of transfer (completion date).
• The full property address (including postcode, PAON — primary addressable object name — and SAON for flats).
• Property type: detached (D), semi-detached (S), terraced (T), flat or maisonette (F), or other (O).
• Whether the transaction involved a new-build property (Y/N).
• Whether the property is freehold or leasehold.
• A transaction category: standard residential (A), or additional (B) — see below.

Category A transactions are standard residential transactions. Category B transactions include repossessions, buy-to-let purchases where an additional rate of SDLT was applied, and transfers to non-private individuals. Category B data is included in the dataset but is typically filtered out when computing averages or indices, as the prices may not reflect open market value.

What Is Excluded From Price Paid Data?

This is where many users go wrong. The PPD excludes a significant number of transaction types that would distort market value analysis:

**Transactions below market value:** Private transfers between family members, gifts, transfers pursuant to divorce, and transfers to trusts at nil or nominal consideration are excluded or recorded at the reported consideration (which may be zero or a token sum). A property transferred between spouses for £1 appears in the data as £1.

**Right to Buy transactions:** Discounted sales of council houses under the Right to Buy scheme (Housing Act 1985 as amended) are included in the PPD but at the discounted price, which may be substantially below market value. The PPD does not flag these separately as discounted transactions.

**Non-residential and mixed-use properties:** Commercial properties, mixed-use (e.g. flat above a shop), and agricultural land are not included in the residential PPD. They are covered by a separate HMLR Commercial and Industrial transactions dataset.

**Compulsory purchases:** Properties acquired by local authorities or other public bodies under compulsory purchase orders may appear at prices reflecting statutory compensation rather than open market value.

**Unregistered land:** HMLR's dataset covers only registered property. An estimated 13% of land in England and Wales by area remains unregistered (typically land that has not changed hands for decades). Transactions involving unregistered land do not appear.

**Off-plan transactions:** The PPD records the completion date and price. Off-plan property is typically contracted months or years before completion; the price in the PPD reflects what was paid at completion, not when the contract was exchanged.

**Errors and late submissions:** Despite HMLR's data quality processes, errors do occur. Duplicate entries, incorrect prices (particularly where transactions are amended or rescinded after registration), and address mismatches are a known source of noise in the data. HMLR publishes guidance on known data quality issues alongside the dataset.

The Difference Between Price Paid and Asking Price / Estimated Value

Price Paid Data records what was actually paid at completion. It is backward-looking — the most recent entry for a property is the last time it sold. It is not an estimate of current market value. A property that sold in 2019 for £350,000 may be worth £420,000 today (or £290,000 — the data cannot tell you).

Automated valuation models (AVMs) used by lenders and portals use PPD as one input alongside current listing prices, rental data, local comparable evidence and property attributes to produce a current value estimate. PPD on its own is not an AVM.

How to Use Price Paid Data Correctly

**For comparable analysis:** PPD is most useful for understanding what similar properties in the same street or postcode have achieved in recent years. Filter by property type and tenure, use a date range of no more than two to three years in a fast-moving market, and treat the resulting figures as a range rather than a single point.

**For market trend analysis:** At postcode sector or local authority level, PPD transaction volumes and average prices give a reliable picture of market direction. Be aware that low transaction volumes (particularly for detached houses in rural postcodes) make averages volatile.

**For investment research:** PPD capital growth data, combined with rental yield estimates from the Valuation Office Agency's Private Rental Market Statistics, can give a picture of total return by area.

Property Passport UK presents Price Paid history for individual properties alongside current EPC, title, planning and environmental data, giving buyers and owners a richer context for understanding value.