Keeping Up With House Prices

News about house prices come every month from various sources and all slightly vary. Here we look at who says what and why.

Let's start with Nationwide and Halifax. Both provide mortgages and their house price figures are based on their mortgage approvals, not on completed sales (remortgages and further advances are excluded). Their data includes property from the whole UK market but each is based only on the mortgages passed through their companies, a much smaller sample compared to the Land Registry. They do not include cash buyers nor sales that fall through. As their calculations can be done at the time of the mortgage approval they have their data sooner and are able to broadcast their figures before the Land Registry.

The Land Registry is based on actual completed sales regardless of any mortgage or cash buy. The Land Registry data set includes residential property transactions in England and Wales and does not include Scotland or Northern Ireland. It's calculations are based on repeat sales so that the prices changes on the same properties are measured.

Property websites such as Rightmove report on house prices but their figures are based on residential property asking prices (England and Wales only). Since offers are made on nearly all asking prices this does not help with accurate information but it will show general trends and contribute to the general picture.

Related to house prices, the British Bank Association provide statistics on lending, including mortgage figures: how much was lent and how many mortgages were taken out. And so the property market can be measured by tracking how many mortgages were taken out in any month which usually follows the trends of house prices.

So let's compare the house price figures for April 2009 from each of the mentioned reporters:

Nationwide reported a monthly fall of 0.3% and an annual fall of 15%.

The Land Registry reported a monthly fall of 0.3% and an annual fall of 16.2%.

Halifax showed a monthly fall of 1.8% and an annual fall of 17.7%.

Rightmove showed a monthly increase of 1.8% and an annual fall of 7.3%. - this may show that new sellers are setting too optimistic an asking price.

There are many more reporters on house prices and all can contribute to how the property market is fairing but generally the most accurate report for England and Wales is from the Land Registry . The results together can show a trend and provide historical information. However, people are very keen to have forecasts to gauge when to buy or sell and the above companies monthly reports do also include some general predictions.

It is also worth reading the general economy news and outlooks as property prices are dependent on the general economy in terms of employment (people need to be employed to get a mortgage to buy a house), interest rates (low interest rates are great for now but there are only low because the economy is in such bad shape), mortgage availability and the general global economy.

Looking at these different aspects, the ride for house prices for the remainder of this year is likely to be bumpy. Keep reading the reports and keep an eye on the property that is right for you.