Wednesday 10 December 2008

UK house price indices - a comparision

Here is a little "compare and contrast" chart, plotting the three main UK house price indices; the Halifax, the Nationwide and the government's DCLG index.

The Halifax seems the wildest; it peaks at a higher level than the other two and tends to jump around more. The DCLG is the tracks the Nationwide index closer, at least until the Autumn 2007 peak. After that, the DCLG doesn't seem to pick up the crash.

As I write, I am looking at the Halifax chart and wondering whether it is seasonally adjusted or not. Does that mean I have to do the chart again? Actually, I am feeling a little lazy right now, I promise I will correct it later.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Alice,
Relax, I think you have it covered.
The Halifax House Price Index is the UK's longest running monthly house price series covering the whole country from January 1983.

These indices are adjusted to allow for seasonal variations. The most commonly used and quoted Halifax Index is the UK seasonally adjusted index covering all houses and all buyers.
JKA

Mark Wadsworth said...

You could bung in the HMLR one as well once you summon the energy, just remember time shift it back by two months and it maps on to Nationwide.

In fact, looking at that chart, you just need to time shift the DCLG one back by six months or so and it maps just as nicely.

Is this the best propaganda the gummint can spew out?

Anonymous said...

Maybe this is a daft question, but which one is the best indicator of house prices?