HM Land Registry completed more than 1.95 million applications in May, up 6.6% on a year ago.  

Applications to change or query documents are up 0.3% on the previous month, the government department adds.  

The South East topped the table of regional applications with 439,855, followed by Greater London on 368,215 and the North West with 219,041.  

Highlights of the body’s May output include:  

• 309,498 were applications for register updates compared with 299,195 in April  
• 1,125,121 were applications for an official copy of a register compared with 1,128,292 in April  
• 190,360 were search and hold queries (official searches) compared with 186,959 in April  
• 82,109 were transactions for value compared with 83,904 in April  
• 17,795 were postal applications from non-account holders compared with 20,425 in April  

The department stresses that its data shows what “it has been able to process during the time period covered and is not necessarily a reflection of market activity”.