HomesIndex

The data behind HomesIndex

Every price on HomesIndex comes from one public dataset: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, the record of residential property sales in England and Wales. HomesIndex geocodes each sale to the exact property, adds ONS rents and inflation for context, and serves the lot free.

What Price Paid Data is

HM Land Registry publishes a row for every residential sale lodged for registration in England and Wales: the price actually paid, the completion date, the full address, the property type (detached, semi-detached, terraced or flat), the tenure (freehold or leasehold) and whether the home was newly built. The record starts in January 1995 and is refreshed monthly, so new sales appear as they are registered. It is Crown copyright, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0, and it records what buyers really paid: no asking prices, no estimates, no valuations.

What it leaves out

Price Paid Data is not every transfer of property. It excludes sales that were not at full market value, such as right-to-buy discounts and transfers between family members, along with court-ordered transfers and most commercial property. Scotland and Northern Ireland keep separate registers and are not covered. Registration takes time, so the newest months fill in over the following updates, which is why recent sales counts rise for a while after each refresh.

How HomesIndex processes it

Each month HomesIndex takes the full Price Paid file and matches every sale to its Ordnance Survey Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN). That puts roughly 80% of sales on the exact building; the rest fall back to the postcode centre. The sales then roll up into median and mean prices by year for every postcode sector, district and area, which is what powers the map, the city pages and the local reports. Two ONS series add context: the Price Index of Private Rents, for average rents and gross yields at local-authority level, and CPIH inflation, so long price histories can be shown in today's money.

Where to explore it

Frequently asked questions

What is Land Registry Price Paid Data?
The official record of residential property sales in England and Wales, published by HM Land Registry. Each entry is one completed sale: the price actually paid, the completion date, the full address, the property type, the tenure and whether the home was newly built, from January 1995 to the latest monthly update.
What does Price Paid Data leave out?
Sales that were not at full market value, such as right-to-buy discounts and transfers between family members, along with court-ordered transfers and most commercial property. Scotland and Northern Ireland keep separate land registers, so they are not covered. Registration also takes time, which is why the most recent months keep filling in after each refresh.
How does HomesIndex geocode each sale?
Every sale is matched to its Ordnance Survey Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN), which puts roughly 80% of sales on the exact building. Where no confident match exists, the sale is placed at its postcode centre rather than guessed at a rooftop.
Is the data free to use?
Yes. Price Paid Data is Crown copyright, released under the Open Government Licence v3.0, and everything on HomesIndex is free to explore. If you reuse a figure, credit HM Land Registry and link the HomesIndex page it came from.

Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right. Contains ONS data licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Questions about the data, or want to reuse it? Email homesindexhelp@gmail.com.