RESEARCH from Halifax, the UK’s largest mortgage lender, shows that the value of residential building land has risen on average across England and Wales (excluding London) by 808 per cent over the last 20 years. In the same period the UK average house price has risen by 306 per cent.

There has been little change in the regional ranking of residential land in the UK.

London was ranked first for price per hectare in Autumn 1983 (£759,000) and remains at the top of the table. A 624 per cent increase has taken the price per hectare to £5,493,000 today. In per centage terms, the difference between land prices in the capital and the rest of the country has narrowed. The price per hectare in London is now 248 per cent higher than elsewhere compared to 336 per cent higher in 1983.

The least expensive area in 1983 was Wales with an average price per hectare of £85,000. Today, the price per hectare is £980,000.

Yorkshire and Humber now has the least expensive residential land by value - dropping from 10th in 1983 to 12th in 2002 - selling at £870,000 per hectare today compared to £108,000 in 1983.