How to check what similar homes actually sold for
Sold prices are public data. Most buyers never look at them — and the ones who do often read them wrong. Here is how to do it properly.
Sold prices are the only property data that cannot be spun. A listing tells you what a seller wants. A sold record tells you what a buyer, with a solicitor and a mortgage lender behind them, actually paid.
It is public, it is free, and most buyers never look at it. The ones who do often misread it, which is arguably worse. Here is how to use it properly.
Where the data comes from
HM Land Registry records every completed residential property transaction in England and Wales and publishes the price paid. Each record includes:
- Sale price and date of completion
- Full address including postcode
- Property type — detached, semi-detached, terraced or flat
- Tenure — freehold or leasehold
- Whether the property was a new build
You can search it free on the government's price paid service. Portals republish the same underlying data, and HomeSignals shows nearby sold records directly on each property page so you do not have to cross-reference by hand.
Timing note: records appear after completion, usually with a lag of a month or two. In a fast-moving market the most recent sales you can see are already slightly historic — which is exactly why the House Price Index adjustment matters.
Reading it properly: five common mistakes
1. Comparing raw prices instead of price per square metre
"The flat next door sold for £520,000" is close to meaningless on its own. If that flat was 82 m² and the one you are looking at is 61 m², they are not comparable properties. Always convert to price per square metre — divide the sold price by the floor area from the EPC register. Our guide to price per square metre covers this in detail.
2. Ignoring how much time has passed
A sale from January 2024 happened in a different market to a sale from last month. Use the UK House Price Index for the relevant local authority to bring older sales into present-day terms before you average them.
3. Treating one sale as evidence
Individual transactions are noisy. A probate sale, a divorce, a cash buyer wanting a quick completion, or a buyer who simply fell in love with the place — any of these can push a single price well away from market value. Look for a cluster. Three to five comparable sales beat one.
4. Mixing tenures and property types
A share-of-freehold flat and a flat with 70 years remaining on its lease are different assets even in the same building. Filter your comparables to the same property type and, where possible, similar tenure.
5. Casting the net too wide geographically
London prices vary sharply over short distances. A quiet residential street and a main road four hundred metres away can differ by 15 per cent or more. Start with the same street, widen to the same postcode, and only go broader if you genuinely cannot find enough transactions.
A practical method
- Pull sold records for the target postcode over the last 18 months.
- Filter to the same property type and roughly comparable size and tenure.
- Look up floor area for each on the EPC register and calculate price per m².
- Adjust each for market movement since its sale date using the local HPI figure.
- Take the median, not the mean — the median is far less distorted by one unusual sale.
- Multiply that rate by the floor area of the property you are considering.
That gives you a defensible estimate of market value, built entirely from public data. It is the same method we automate on every valued listing.
Using sold data in a negotiation
Sold evidence changes the character of an offer. Consider the difference between these two positions:
- "We would like to offer £540,000." — easy for an agent to treat as an opening position to be talked upwards.
- "Four comparable flats on this street have sold in the past year at a median of £7,650 per square metre. At 70 m², that puts this flat around £535,000. We are offering £540,000." — now the agent has to argue with the Land Registry.
You will not always win that argument. Sellers can be unrealistic, and in a competitive situation someone else may simply pay more. But you will know, at the point of decision, whether you are stretching past the evidence — and you will not find out two years later when you try to sell.
Frequently asked questions
How can I find out what a house sold for?
HM Land Registry publishes the price paid for every completed residential property sale in England and Wales. The data is free to search by postcode or address through the Land Registry price paid service, and it is also republished by property portals. Records typically appear a month or two after completion.
How far back should I look at sold prices?
Around 18 months is a practical window. It is recent enough that the market conditions are broadly comparable, and long enough to give you several transactions to work with. If you use older sales, adjust them for market movement using the UK House Price Index for that local authority.
Why is the sold price different from the asking price?
The asking price is what the seller and their agent hoped to achieve, while the sold price is what a buyer actually agreed to pay after negotiation. The two frequently differ, and in slower markets properties often complete below their original asking price, sometimes after one or more reductions.
Does Land Registry sold data include the property size?
No. Land Registry price paid data records the sale price, date, address, property type, tenure and whether the property is a new build, but not floor area. To compare on a price per square metre basis you need to combine it with floor area data from the EPC register.