House Price Index

The House Price Index (or HPI) is something that will sometimes see referred to when you are researching buying property and looking at house price values and how they have changed over time, perhaps when you are considering whether now is a good time to buy relative to other periods and house prices at those times.

The House Price Index is something that the land registry compiles and it shows the changes in the value of residential properties. It uses data that is collated from residential housing transactions. The purpose is therefore to show how house prices move over a period of time. This is useful for finding out what the trends and patterns are, both in an area and relative to other areas. For instance are the prices in some counties staying level whilst some are going up by a fair amount, and so on.

These reports are monthly and is recognised to be more accurate than many other reports due to the sheer number of properties that form its sample size. The land registry website says that the House Price Index is the "most accurate independent house price index available".

There is a website all about the House Price Index on the Land Registry website, which you can find here:
http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/

This will allow you to search the index and also see when the next report is due to be released, and also has a summary that tells you the average house price that month, what the change is in percentage terms compared to the previous month, and also what the annual change has been. These high level figures give you a rough and ready overview of what has happened to the market so far in the year.

By using the search facility you can look at one area or compare two areas and see how property prices have changed over a period of time that you specify; you can pick a county or enter a postcode to view relevant information. For instance if you want to know the average price of property in Hampshire for September 2009, then simply choose the relevant options and in a couple of clicks the information is available. If you are thinking of buying in an area you are not familiar with it can be particularly useful to see how house prices have changed over a period of time, this will give you a feel for the current price level relative to other areas.

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