How sold house prices and estimates work

Sold prices in England and Wales come from HM Land Registry’s Price Paid Data, which records what was paid and appears weeks or months after a sale. An estimate that moves a past price on with a house price index is a rough guide, never a valuation.

Checked 16 Oct 2026

Where sold prices come from

When a home in England or Wales is sold, the sale is registered with HM Land Registry. Its Price Paid Data records the price on the transfer deed, the date the sale completed, the property type (detached, semi-detached, terraced, flat or maisonette, or other), whether it was newly built and whether it was sold freehold or leasehold. It goes back to 1995, and you can search it free on GOV.UK.

The price is what was finally paid. It can differ from the asking price, and from the offer first accepted if the price was renegotiated after a survey.

Why recent sales are missing

A sale appears only after it has been lodged for registration and included in a monthly update. The gap is usually between two weeks and two months, and occasionally much longer, so the most recent couple of months are always incomplete. If a home nearby sold recently and you cannot find it, ask the agent.

Standard and non-standard sales

The data splits sales into two groups:

Standard sales: a single home sold for full market value.
Additional, or non-standard, sales: repossessions, buy-to-let purchases where a mortgage identifies them, sales to companies and other non-private buyers, and properties classed as other. Their prices may not reflect the open market.

Some transfers are left out altogether, including gifts, right to buy sales at a discount, transfers of a share in a home (for example between a couple on divorce), transfers under a court order or compulsory purchase, and leases of seven years or less. A gap in a home’s record does not always mean it has not changed hands.

Why a sale price is not today’s value

A price paid five or fifteen years ago tells you what one buyer agreed at the time. Since then the market has moved, and the home itself may have changed: an extension, a new kitchen or years of wear. Even a recent price reflects one negotiation, with its own timing and pressures.

New-build homes often sell for a premium when new, so comparing a first sale with later resales of the same home, or a new-build price with older homes nearby, can mislead.

Recent standard sales of similar homes nearby, of the same type and a similar size, usually say more about value than any single past price for the home itself.

The UK House Price Index

The UK House Price Index is published every month by HM Land Registry with the Office for National Statistics and its counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland. It tracks average prices and how they change for each local authority and region, and by property type. It adjusts for the mix of homes sold, so that a month with many flats sold does not look like a fall in prices.

It runs a couple of months behind, and the latest months are first estimates that are revised as more sales are registered, so expect recent figures to change.

Price per square metre

Dividing a price by the floor area gives a price per square metre, a fair way to compare homes of different sizes. The floor area usually comes from the home’s energy performance certificate, which records the total floor area measured by the assessor; see how to read an energy performance certificate. Bear in mind:

certificates are not always accurate, and the area changes after an extension or loft conversion;
match the certificate to the date of the sale where you can;
compare with other certificate figures rather than an agent’s floor plan, which may measure differently.

What an index-adjusted estimate is

An index-adjusted estimate takes a home’s last sale price and moves it on by how much the house price index for its area and property type has changed since. It answers one narrow question: what would that price be today if the home had followed the local average?

It is an estimate, never a valuation. It knows nothing about the home’s condition, improvements or setting, and it is less reliable the older the sale. Your lender will arrange its own valuation for a mortgage, and a surveyor can give you an independent one.

Check it for a specific home

The This home section of a HouseReport report lists every recorded sale of the address with its price per square metre, the property type and tenure recorded at sale, and an index-adjusted estimate labelled as an estimate. Price trends shows medians by property type for the neighbourhood, borough and region, and Comparable sales shows similar sales nearby. Look up any address to see its free preview.

Look up any address

The free preview shows which of these checks the report answers for that home.