How to find out what a house last sold for

Knowing what the current owners paid is one of the most useful pieces of context you can have before you offer. It is public information in England and Wales, and it takes a couple of minutes to find.

Where to look

HM Land Registry records the price and date of every completed sale in England and Wales and publishes them as open data. You can search its price paid data by postcode and street, and the major property portals show the same records on their sold-price pages. Sales usually appear a few weeks to a couple of months after completion. In Scotland, sale prices are held by Registers of Scotland.

What the last sale price tells you

What it does not tell you

The record shows the price only: not the condition at the time, what was included, or whether it was a straightforward sale. Some transfers, such as gifts or sales between family members, do not reflect market value. Treat the last sale as one piece of evidence, alongside recent sales of similar homes nearby.

A Proptel report shows a home's sale history next to recent nearby sales and the area's price trend, so you can see at a glance whether the asking price has grown with the market or ahead of it. For a whole district, Proptel's free area guides list the latest recorded sales and the median price by property type.