We hear a lot about the movement of house prices from a variety of sources.  Each one seems to take data from different points within the house buying process and can therefore be quite different.  The following is a summary of how the main players compile their figures.

Land Registry

 

• Records all completed property sales in England and Wales
• The survey features the end of the buying process, when a transaction is registered
• Uses Repeat Sales Regression to measure price changes (a comparison of price change in repeat sales)
• Sale of commercial properties and certain residential sales (discounted sales) are excluded
• Repossessions and property transfers are excluded
• Produces a monthly survey
• Provides an accurate insight into national and local prices

 

Government Price Survey

 

• Issued monthly by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)
• Based on data supplied by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML)
• Covers a large sample of sales (around 60%) that have gone through with a mortgage, so therefore does not include cash sales
• The Government survey is weighted heavily on money spent rather than transactions
• Weighting the survey to expenditure means that London and the South East will have a disproportionate influence on the figures
• The data comes from completed transactions

 

Nationwide & Halifax

 

• The big two mortgage lenders surveys covers the whole of the UK
• Based on a sample of the lenders own loans for that month
• Prices measured are those at the point when the loan is agreed &not the actual completion
• Both banks used identical statistical methods
• The data only takes into account mortgaged sales and ignores any cash sales

 

Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

 

• This survey reflects confidence in the housing market from its members, rather than what is actually happening
• Around 250 estate agents are asked if they feel that prices are rising or falling in their area for the preceding three months
• The RICS survey is generally the first to pick up any major market changes
• Members are asked other related questions such as if the number of buyers and sellers is rising or falling

 

Hometrack and Rightmove

 

• Hometrack data is collected from 3,500 estate agents in all 2,200 postcode districts of England & Wales
• Estate agents report whether house prices are rising or falling
• They are also asked to report an achievable selling price for each of four standard properties in their area
• The Rightmove survey is compiled by collating asking prices on the website over the previous month
• The website claims to display 90% of all property for sale in the UK, although its survey covers only England and Wales