Hometrack's new index, which now confines itself to looking at average house prices in 20 cities in the UK rather than all of England and Wales, will not be using estate agents' index.
Hometrack's old monthly house price index was based on data provided by around 3,000 agency offices but the small print for the new index - the first edition of which is out today - says the data sources will be the Land Registry and Registers of Scotland.
This new Hometrack UK Cities House Price Index is very different to our historic monthly housing survey which was an aggregation of the views of a large sample of agents and surveyors on key market trends in their local area. The survey has been dis-continued says the consultancy.
The new index has been two years in the making. Its first public findings, just released, show that average house prices in London and Cambridge have increased by over £60,000 and £53,000 respectively over the last 12 months - the highest hikes from the 20 cities analysed.
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