1982 property values: Why do they matter?

Fenn Wright Partner Lewis Chambers explains: “1982 property values are important because if you acquired your property before 31 March 1982, you will need to calculate any CGT due on its sale on the basis of the market value of that property on the 31 March 1982 – irrespective of how long you may have owned it before that date, or what you may have paid for it originally.”

Where can you find out how much your property was worth in 1982?

A Google search will reveal that many people are asking the same question and The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, recognises that there are few published sources for 1982 values. Nationwide regional house price tables exist from 1952 onwards, and the Office of National Statistics ONS House Market data tables may be of some help to homeowners, but lack specifics.

The National Archives keeps The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) Property Report 1982. This report includes opinions of value of recognisable property types or ‘beacons’ and provides indicative values for agricultural land, development land, housing, offices and warehouses. But the report cautions that ‘the beacons are a broad guide to value and should not be adopted without regard to the actual property involved’.

Without doubt, the most reliable source for retrospective valuations is primary evidence, archived from the time in question.

Retrospective valuations for a property in Essex or Suffolk.
Fenn Wright maintains one of the most extensive collections of historic comparable valuation evidence in Suffolk and Essex. It relates to residential, commercial and agricultural properties in the period between 1980 – 2016. Have a closer look at the extracts below from our Commercial and Industrial property summary published in Spring 1981.

A snapshot of 1982
Interestingly, two of the properties on the front cover of this document have been back on the market recently, so we can see how the valuations have changed.

1) 11 Magdalen Street (formerly Holm Lucking) was available to let in March 1981 on a new 10 year lease at a rent of £10,500 per annum. Equal to a little over £4.45 per sq.ft. to include car parking. The freehold value in 1981 would have been between £125,000 – £135,000. Fenn Wright sold this building in March 2015 for £325,000.

2) 25 St Peter’s Street was available to let in 1981/ 1982 at a little under £5 per sq.ft. Today it is available at £10 per sq.ft.

If you need reliable data to inform a CGT calculation, or help with a dispute with the District Valuer, Fenn Wright is well-placed to assist because we have a wealth of contemporaneous supporting evidence. 

Please get in touch with Lewis Chambers MRICS for assistance with retrospective valuations in Suffolk and Essex.