Confirmed - new official UK House Price Index launching next week

The government is launching the new official UK House Price Index - to be known in short-form as the UK HPI - at 9.30am on June 14.

When the index starts reporting there will be four monthly reports available - a UK summary, plus separate reports for England, Scotland and Wales. (A quarterly report for Northern Ireland will be published on the general UK HPI website by the NI Land and Property Services department).

The data available from June 14 will be for April transactions.

The new reports will include breakdowns of first time buyers and new build homes - although detailed notes on the methodology to be used to compile the new figures suggest this kind of information (that is, the status of the purchaser or whether it is a cash or mortgaged purchase) often has little bearing on price.

The UK HPI has been developed by the Land Registry, Office for National Statistics, Registers of Scotland, Land & Property Services - Northern Ireland, and the Valuations Office Agency. 

It will be published roughly mid-month in future - so for example the May data will be published on July 19, the June data on August 16, the July data on September 13, and so on.

The UK HPI has had a lengthy gestation and has suffered some delays but is now almost ready to go.

The Land Registry is also updating its house price search tool to include data from Scotland and Northern Ireland, and this will also launch on June 14.