Property prices 1910 style to be published

The values of the Bank of England, the Old Bailey, Fleet Street and Chancery Lane have been obtained from the England Land Tax Valuations of 1910 by Ancestry.co.uk.

The estimated 44,000 buildings in the collection reveal a stark contrast between the property prices of today and a century ago – with the average London property valued at just 14,000 in 1910, compared with 430,500 today.

Of particular interest are the values of landmarks such as the Bank of England, worth just 110,000 in 1910, and the Old Bailey, worth just 6,600.

In contrast, Mansion House was valued at 992,000 while St Paul's Cathedral also features but without a valuation as it is listed as "exempt" from tax.

The valuations were originally compiled in 1910 from across the UK as part of David Lloyd George's 1910 Finance Act, later known as the Domesday Survey, which was introduced as a means to redistribute wealth through the assessment of land value.

Famous streets include the media-hub Fleet Street, which according to the records was even then home to numerous newspapers including the Yorkshire Evening News. A property on Fleet Street cost an average of 25,000 in 1910, compared to 1.2m today.

However, buildings in the legal centre Chancery Lane were worth only about 11,000, compared with 1.1m today.