Press release

March 2014 Market Trend Data

Land Registry's Market Trend Data for England and Wales.

  • March house prices down 0.4 per cent since February 2014
  • March house prices up 5.6 per cent since March 2013
  • Average house price in England and Wales now £169,124 compared with the peak of £181,618 in November 2007
  • 979 repossessions in England & Wales during January 2014
  • South East tops the table of regional applications with 312,038 in March
  • Over 72,300 residential properties in England and Wales lodged for registration in March ranging from £10,000 to £19.5m

The March data from Land Registry’s House Price Index shows an annual price increase of 5.6 per cent which takes the average property value in England and Wales to £169,124. The monthly change from February to March shows a decrease of 0.4 per cent. Repossession volumes decreased by 31 per cent in January 2014 to 979 compared with 1,420 in January 2013.

  • The region in England and Wales which experienced the greatest increase in its average property value over the last 12 months is London with a movement of 12.4 per cent
  • Both East and North East regions experienced the greatest monthly rise with a movement of 1.1 per cent
  • Wales experienced the only annual price fall of 1.6 per cent
  • Wales also saw the most significant monthly price fall with a movement of -4.2 per cent
  • The most up-to-date figures available show that during January 2014 the number of completed house sales in England & Wales increased by 46 per cent to 63,123 compared with 43,373 in January 2013
  • The number of properties sold in England and Wales for over £1 million in January 2014 increased by 61 per cent to 1,011 from 628 in January 2013
  • The region with the greatest fall in repossession sales in January 2014 was the North East
Region Monthly change since February 2014 Annual change since March 2013 Average price March 2014
East 1.1% 7.1% £184,980
North East 1.1% 3.3% £99,313
South West 0.7% 4.7% £179,066
London 0.6% 12.4% £414,490
West Midlands 0.6% 3.7% £133,532
England & Wales -0.4% 5.6% £169,124
South East -0.7% 6.1% £221,189
Yorkshire and The Humber -0.9% 1.8% £116,993
East Midlands -1.0% 4.6% £127,384
North West -1.8% 2.3% £109,042
Wales -4.2% -1.6% £113,275

Average price by property type

Average price by property type (England and Wales) March 2014 March 2013 Difference
Detached £265,753 £254,107 4.6%
Semi-detached £159,684 £152,197 4.9%
Terraced £126,859 £120,600 5.2%
Flat/maisonette £163,437 £151,167 8.1%
All £169,124 £160,182 5.6%

Sales volumes 2014 to 2013

Month Sales 2013 England and Wales Sales 2012 England and Wales Difference
January 43,373 43,784 -1%
February 45,228 44,870 1%
March 54,659 61,377 -11%
April 50,968 43,276 18%
May 66,246 52,555 26%
June 65,958 59,891 10%
July 73,536 59,169 24%
August 79,224 65,039 22%
September 69,561 52,889 32%
October 76,579 59,236 29%
November 82,217 63,979 29%
December 77,843 56,707 37%
Total 785,392 662,772 19%

Sales volumes 2014 to 2013

Month Sales 2014 England and Wales Sales 2013 England and Wales Difference
January 63,123 43,373 46%

Repossessions by region

Repossessions by region January 2014 January 2013 Difference
East 66 101 -35%
East Midlands 93 127 -27%
London 117 194 -40%
North East 25 43 -42%
North West 237 297 -20%
South East 108 170 -36%
South West 57 88 -35%
Wales 78 115 - 32%
West Midlands 61 93 -34%
Yorkshire & The Humber 137 192 -29%
All 979 1,38* -33%

The Price Paid Data includes details of over 72,300 residential property sales in England and Wales lodged for registration in March 2014. The most expensive sale in March 2014 was located in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea which sold for £10.3m. The cheapest sale in March 2014 was located in Burnley, Lancashire and sold for £10,000

Access the full dataset

The Transaction Data shows Land Registry completed 1,365,223 applications from all its customers in March. This includes 1,316,674 applications by account customers, of which 307,615 were applications in respect of registered land (dealings); 618,365 were applications to obtain an official copy of a register or title plan; 180,684 were searches and 72,982 were transactions for value. Access the full dataset

Access the full transaction dataset

Top three customers Transactions for value
My Home Move Limited 1,668
Countrywide Property Lawyers 843
O’Neill Patient 652
Top three customers Searches
Enact 7,462
Optima Legal Services 5,373
Breeze & Wyles 3,813
Region Applications
South East 312,038
Greater London 263,580
North West 147,442
South West 132,922
West Midlands 116,624
Yorks & Humber 108,816
East Midlands 97,445
North 66,655
Wales 64,539
East Anglia 55,044
England & Wales (not assigned) 74
Isles of Scilly 44
Total 1,365,223

Notes to editors

1. Market Trend Data is published on the twentieth working day of each month. The April House Price Index (HPI) and Price Paid data set will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 30 May 2014.

2. A calendar with release dates of the headline figure and the full HPI is available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/about-the-house-price-index.

3. Publication of the Transaction Data is being moved forward so that it will be available on the fifteenth working day of the month from May onwards. This means that the April dataset will be published on 22 May 2014 at 11am.

4. 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.

5. Land Registry’s dataset contains details on over 18 million residential transactions. Of these, over 6.5 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.

6. The adjusted headline statistics for England and Wales on p14 of the monthly HPI report include additional repossession data.

7. The repossession data is based on the number of transactions lodged with Land Registry by lenders exercising their power of sale. Once we have identified these transactions, we extract the price paid information from the related register entry.

8. Although the HPI goes back to January 1995, we have only been recording repossessions comprehensively since 2006. This means that historic repossession data is not available prior to January 2006. See About the House Price Index for more information.

9. HPI background tables are available as Open Data in Excel and CSV formats and in machine readable format as linked data. They are available for free use and re-use under the Open Government Licence (OGL).

10. 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

11. Price Paid Data can be downloaded in CSV format and in a machine readable format as linked data. It is available for anyone to examine or re-use free of charge under the OGL.

12. 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.

13. With the largest transactional database of its kind detailing almost 24 million titles, Land Registry underpins the economy by safeguarding ownership of many billions of pounds worth of property.

14. For further information about Land Registry visit www.gov.uk/land-registry.

15. Follow us on Twitter and find us on our blog, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Contact

Press Office

Trafalgar House
1 Bedford Park
Croydon
CR0 2AQ

Email HMLRPressOffice@landregistry.gov.uk

Phone (Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5:30pm) 0300 006 3365

Mobile (5:30pm to 8:30am weekdays, all weekend and public holidays) 07864 689 344

Published 30 April 2014
Last updated 27 August 2014 + show all updates
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