Estate agents will gain access to more precise property identifiers alongside HM Land Registry’s Price Paid Data from Friday, in a change designed to improve the accuracy of property matching and sales histories.

From 28 August, HM Land Registry will publish Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) and INSPIRE IDs in separate lookup tables alongside its monthly Price Paid Data.

The dataset records residential property transactions across England and Wales. Estate agents, portals, lenders and other property businesses routinely use the information for market analysis and property research.

The addition means individual transactions can be linked more reliably to specific properties and land parcels.

What changes for estate agents?

For agents, one of the main benefits should be more accurate matching of historic sales data.

Property databases often rely heavily on addresses. Variations in formatting, address changes and duplicate records can make it difficult to establish whether different datasets refer to the same property.

UPRNs provide individual properties with a consistent identifier. This should make it easier for estate agents and property portals to connect historic transaction prices to the correct home.

It could also improve the property histories shown to buyers and sellers.

The identifiers should support more detailed market analysis when agents combine Price Paid Data with other property and location datasets.

This could include analysis at property, street and neighbourhood level.

Property data becomes easier to connect

INSPIRE IDs perform a different function by identifying spatial land parcels.

Developers and investors could use them to connect transaction prices with land boundaries. This could support site analysis, planning and investment decisions.

Lenders could also use the identifiers to improve property matching during valuations, mortgage assessments and due diligence.

HM Land Registry said the change responds to customer demand and aims to make land and property information easier to connect and reuse.

Lynne Nicholson, deputy director for Data at HM Land Registry, said: “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.”

GeoPlace manages the national address and street databases for England and Wales, including the allocation of UPRN ranges to local authorities and Ordnance Survey.

For estate agents, the immediate change is primarily a data enhancement rather than a new regulatory requirement. However, agencies, portals and proptech providers that use HM Land Registry data will be able to incorporate the identifiers into their systems from 28 August.

Nick Chapallaz, managing director at GeoPlace, commented: “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.”