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I’ve included a Rent index produced by the owners of Property hawk on this Blog – please click through to their website for details on how this is produced.
Indexes – never believe what you read! Today the headlines read:
Supply and demand imbalance pushes prices up
House asking prices hit by increase in new sellers
Two stories, two conclusions, from the same stastistic.
The supply of residential property for sale is a third higher than in January 2010, and nine per cent higher than May.
“The continuing mortgage famine has now been joined by a surge in sellers following the abolition of HIPs
Yet one story announces a rise in prices, the other a fall.
Well the simple truth is that property statistics are produced for promotional value rather than a genuine intention to shed light on the direction of house prices. Probably the least valuable view is the “gut feel” published by the venerable RICS – not based on house prices at all, but one of the most quoted indexes. The most valid is the index produced by Land Registry, but as it reflects prices struck some 2/3 months previously the data may be the least useful available.
So probably my view is that indexes aren’t worth the paper they are plotted on for a current view of prices, but I tried.
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