UK HPI celebrates first anniversary

On its first anniversary, the UK House Price Index (UK HPI), passed a milestone with 1,000 new users accessing more information on residential new builds than ever before.

The 1,000 new users join the 6,600 regulars already accessing data that shows changes to residential property values in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and is calculated by HM Land Registry, the Office for National Statistics, Registers of Scotland and Land & Property Services Northern Ireland.

Henry Pryor, Property Commentator of the Year 2017 said:

“In a broth of other housing statistics, comment and analysis that I digest every month, I come back to the UK HPI with both relief and reassurance. The nation’s housing market is the talk of dinner parties, of pub lunches and its health or otherwise, of the countries’ biggest asset class worth a staggering £6.8 trillion, is a topic that requires objective, reliable and timely data.

“If only politics and religion had the same foundations provided by HM Land Registry, perhaps we could all finally talk about something else around the meal table.”

Faisal Choudhry, Director of Scottish Research within Savills UK’s Residential Research Team, added:

“The new HPI sets a new standard with regards to house price indices. It’s an official index so immediately the user and recipient of the information cannot doubt the credibility or assume any bias that would accompany private company indices.”

Lorna Jordan, UK House Price Product Manager, HM Land Registry said:

“We understand the impact the UK HPI has on the wider economy, so we strive to ensure our data quality and users’ experience is of a high standard. Each enhancement we make takes us a step closer towards the removal of our experimental status and becoming an official National Statistic.

“Feedback from users is used to plan and prioritise enhancements to all elements of the index. In the coming months, we will be adding data going back to 1968 instead of 1995 to our interactive tool and expanding the searchable options, bringing back the ability to compare multiple areas. We will also be creating a LinkedIn forum to facilitate real-time conversations.”

The first UK House Price Index annual review was published in February 2017 and included new property value trends and commentaries on the external influences affecting the index such as stamp duty on second homes and the EU referendum.

Kindly shared by Land Registry