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UNTIL00:01 HRS ON FRIDAY 8 AUGUST 2003

26/03 8 August 2003

PROPERTY PRICE REPORT SHOWS 12.52% INCREASE INPRICES

Averagehouse price in England and Wales now 149,935

LandRegistry today (8 August) published its latest quarterly residential propertyprice report, covering the period April - June 2003, on its website atwww.landregistry.gov.uk.

Thereport compares average prices and volume of sales with those for the sameperiod in 2002. It also gives abreakdown of the average sale prices of old and new properties by propertytype. The following information iscontained in the report:

England andWales

The average price increased by 12.52% from 133,247 in 2002to 149,935 for the same period in 2003;

All economic regions in England and Wales showed an increasein average prices;

The volume of sales decreased by 16.27% from 293,352in 2002 to 245,632 for the same period in 2003.

Greater London

The average property price increased by 5.96% from 232,830in 2002 to 246,710 for the same period in 2003;

The volume of sales decreased by 25.26% from 38,681 in 2002to 28,911 for the same period in 2003;

338 propertiesover 1 million were sold.

AVERAGE PRICE BY COUNTRY AND REGION

COUNTRY/REGION	APR-JUN 2002 AVE. PRICE	APR-JUN 2003 AVE. PRICE	% INCREASE

ENGLAND & WALES	133,247	149,935	12.52

EAST MIDLANDS	96,636	120,759	24.96%
NORTH	73,444	91,179	24.15%
WALES	79,397	98,186	23.66%
YORKS & HUMBER	81,364	99,740	22.58%
EAST ANGLIA	120,315	144,427	20.04%
SOUTH WEST	136,881	164,036	19.84%
WEST MIDLANDS	105,590	125,817	19.16%
SOUTH EAST	168,111	194,924	15.95%
NORTH WEST	83,505	96,253	15.27%
GREATER LONDON	232,830	246,710	5.96%

ENDS

NOTES FOREDITORS

The report is published today on Land Registrys website at www.landregistry.gov.uk. Printed copies will be available from Wednesday 27 August 2003. The website also contains all previous quarterly reports together with an online service providing residential property prices and volumes of sales, broken down by property type, for the whole of England and Wales.

All reports since January-March 2000 include sales of under 10,000 and over 1 million. Land Registry started collecting property price data in the first quarter of 1995. It holds no data prior to that date.

The sales included in the report relate to the transfer for full market value of the ownership of freehold or long leasehold properties, whether or not the purchase was supported by a mortgage. The price data are actual, unadjusted averages drawn from the great majority of all residential sales in England and Wales completed during the period.

The report is intended to complement information available from other sources. If you make any comparison with other data you should consider the differences in volume, timeliness and coverage of contributing transactions.

Land Registrys Property Information Centre also provides reports that show aggregated data for any local authority district in England and Wales, postcode area (e.g. GL), postcode district (e.g. GL1), or postcode sector (e.g. GL1 2). There is a fee for the service.

With the largest property database in Europe, todays Land Registry underpins the economy by guaranteeing ownership of many billions of pounds worth of property. Around 1 million worth of property is processed every minute, in England and Wales.

As a Government Department established in 1862, Executive Agency and Trading Fund responsible to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor, Land Registry keeps and maintains the Land Register for England and Wales. There are 24 offices in England and Wales, each providing land registration services for different counties and unitary authorities. For more information about Land Registry, please visit its website at www.landregistry.gov.uk.

CONTACTS

For mediaenquiries, please call Press Office, 020 7917 5996.

For generalenquiries and enquiries for back issues, bespoke reports and requests foradditional data, please contact the PropertyInformation Centre, 0151 473 6008.