ONS calls for improvements in official housing stats

The National Statistician has recommended improvements to official housing market statistics.

The Office for National Statistics is one of two providers of official house price indices. The other is the Land Registry, but the two release quite different data, with the ONS currently quoting a house price some £71,000 higher than the Land Registry.

There are also a number of other house price surveys, including Nationwide, Halifax, Hometrack, Rightmove and RICS.

Now the ONS has said that housing market statistics must be more accessible with key trends easier to identify.

In the National Statistician’s second-stage review of housing market statistics, there is also a call for official private rental market statistics and a private rental price index to be developed for the UK. Currently, the most influential rental market survey – which is often quoted in Parliament – is produced by LMS.

In addition, the review calls for local area statistics to be made available in all cases and be timely enough to be of use.

National Statistician Jil Matheson said: “The housing market affects everyone in the UK in some way. Good-quality statistics are essential for making informed decisions on housing, from central government planning to private individuals deciding whether to move, rent or buy.”

We asked the ONS about the yawning gap between the Government’s own two house price indices, and whether they agreed this was muddling to consumers.

The ONS did not exactly address the point but replied, saying: “Both the Office for National Statistics and the Land Registry produce house price statistics to a high standard.

“However, there are differences in the data published by each department, due to different sources and methodology used to derive average price.

“As part of the development of the ONS House Price Index, better commentary will be developed to sit alongside the data so that these differences are more clearly explained.

“An article will be published in December which fully explains the methodology used in the ONS House Price Index and explains the differences from the other official measures.”

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