HM Land Registry is to add Unique Property Reference Numbers and INSPIRE IDs alongside its monthly Price Paid Data in a move designed to make property information easier to connect, analyse and reuse.
From 28 August, separate lookup tables containing UPRNs and INSPIRE IDs will be made available alongside the dataset, which records residential property transactions across England and Wales.
The change follows demand from users of Land Registry data for identifiers that make it easier to establish precisely which property or parcel of land a record relates to.
Estate agents and property portals could use the identifiers to improve the matching of historic sales information to individual properties, reducing problems created by different address formats or duplicate records.
MORE RELIABLE PROPERTY DATA
UPRNs provide a persistent identifier for an addressable location, while INSPIRE IDs identify spatial polygons representing pieces of land or property.
HM Land Registry says their inclusion will allow Price Paid Data to be connected more reliably with mapping, location and other property datasets.
For agents and portals, this could support more accurate property histories and automated valuation and market-analysis tools. Lenders could also use UPRNs to connect valuation, transaction and address information more consistently, while developers could combine sold-price information with spatial data when analysing sites.
Lynne Nicholson, Deputy Director for Data at HM Land Registry, says: “We have a strategic plan to unlock the value of our data to create new opportunities for innovation and growth.
“To support this, and in response to customer demand, we are providing UPRNs and INSPIRE IDs through a series of lookup tables, beginning with our Price Paid dataset. Later this financial year, we will be adding similar lookup tables to our UK Companies data and Overseas Companies data, as part of our move to support a more efficient, transparent, and digitally connected property market.”
CONNECTING PROPERTY RECORDS
GeoPlace manages the national address and street databases for England and Wales, with local authorities responsible for creating new addresses and assigning UPRNs.
Nick Chapallaz, Managing Director at GeoPlace, says: “HM Land Registry has already established a valuable link between title numbers and UPRNs, helping connect property ownership information with authoritative location data. Extending that approach to Price Paid Data is a natural next step.
“As a persistent, unique identifier maintained through local authority address custodians and GeoPlace, the UPRN provides certainty of reference across the property sector, ensuring that different organisations are working with the same property, regardless of how its address appears in their systems.
“That shared reference point enables property data from different sources to be linked, analysed and mapped, opening up new opportunities for insight across the property market.”
The lookup tables will initially apply only to monthly Price Paid Data published from 28 August onwards and will not be retrospectively provided for previously published datasets.
