The FT House Price Index series has been updated with the recent monthly data available from the Land Registry. The latest figures indicate that house prices rose by 0.3% in August and by 5.7% over the past 12 months.
The FT House Price Index comprises the published Land Registry house price data, smoothed and seasonally and mix adjusted by Acadametrics, combined with an index of Indices” model in order to account for transactions not yet reported to the Land Registry. The FT House Price Index uniquely uses all of the Land Registry data including cash purchases. It is designed to provide the most factual record available of domestic property prices in England and Wales and a true guide to house price inflation.
We calculate the FT House Price Index, on a seasonally and mix adjusted basis, as follows:
| House Price | Index | Monthly Change % | Annual Change % | |
| Aug 2006 | 204,696 | 205.3 | 0.3 | 5.7 |
| July 2006 | 204,005 | 204.6 | 0.1 | 5.6 |
| June 2006 | 203,731 | 204.3 | -0.1 | 5.5 |
| May 2006 | 203,850 | 204.4 | 0.2 | 5.8 |
| Apr 2006 | 203,543 | 204.1 | 0.6 | 5.2 |
| Mar 2006 | 202,268 | 202.9 | 0.5 | 4.5 |
How the index is calculated
Figures for the most recent months are produced using the latest information from the Land Registrys database of monthly property transactions and a statistical model to collate information from other published house price figures.
The FT index weights information from the Halifax, Nationwide and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister according to their past reliability in predicting Land Registry figures. The outcome from the modelling process is smoothed to avoid the erratic month to month fluctuations observed in some other indices.
There has always been a weakness with the original FT index (FTHPI), however, in that it is not mix-adjusted. Because different regions and property types can exhibit different price movements, an index is improved by allowing for the fact that sales in any period are unlikely to be representative of the country as a whole.
Accordingly, the FTs new mix-adjusted index (FTHPI MA) does allow for the relative changes in prices in the regions and among the four property types — detached, semi-detached, terraced and flats/maisonettes that the Land Registry collects.
While the original FT index, which will still be published, forecasts” the eventual Land Registry data, the mix-adjusted index more accurately reflects what is really happening to national house prices.
To find out the Land Registry price of your home, or any other UK address, go to http://www.nethouseprices.com/index.php
| Percentage changes in house prices: comparison of data from available sources | |||||||||||
| Source | Annual/ Month | Nov-05 | Dec-05 | Jan-06 | Feb-06 | Mar-06 | Apr-06 | May-06 | Jun-06 | Jul-
06 |
Aug-06 |
| Land Registry | A | 4.5 | 5.2 | 7.7 | |||||||
| Q | (1.5) | 0.8 | 3.1 | ||||||||
| FTHPI | A | 4.4 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.2 | 6.0 | 6.8 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.8 | 8.0 |
| M | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.9 | |
| FTHPI MA | A | 3.3 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 4.5 | 5.2 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 5.7 |
| M | 0.4 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.2 | (0.1) | 0.1 | 0.3 | |
| ODPM | A | 1.6 | 2.2 | 3.6 | 2.8 | 2.6 | 4.6 | 5.1 | 4.7 | ||
| M | 0.5 | (0.1) | 1.1 | (1.2) | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.4 | |||
| Nationwide | A | 2.4 | 3.0 | 4.4 | 3.7 | 5.3 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 5.0 | 5.9 | 6.6 |
| M | 0.2 | 0.5 | 1.4 | (0.2) | 1.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.8 | |
| Halifax | A | 4.5 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 5.5 | 6.2 | 8.0 | 9.1 | 9.4 | 8.8 | 8.2 |
| M | 1.0 | 0.9 | (0.2) | 1.5 | 1.1 | 2.0 | (0.1) | (1.2) | 0.3 | 1.0 | |
| Rightmove | A | 4.0 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 6.4 | 10.6 | 9.0 |
| M | 0.8 | (0.8) | 0.1 | 2.7 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 2.9 | (1.6) | |
| Hometrack | A | (2.5) | (1.6) | (0.1) | (0.5) | 0.1 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| M | (0.2) | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | |
Last updated September 07, 2006
