The long-awaited final review of the Governnment’s official house price surveys still has no timescale.
This is despite a recommendation that there should be only one official national house price survey, which was made last December 16 by the National Statisticians Office.
The report, which EAT incorrectly reported earlier this week had not appeared, and can now clarify that it did, was called the National Statistician’s Review of House Price Statistics.
However, the review made it clear that it was only the first stage in the process.
It conceded: “The review concludes that neither of the current official house price measures meets all key user needs for a definitive official house price index.”
It proposed that the Land Registry and CLG should work together on producing one house price survey, and suggested some parameters.
A consultation process should have closed at the end of February, and a further report was due to be published ‘by Easter’, according to chief statistician Jil Matheson.
But of this report there is no sign, and meanwhile, the two conflicting ‘official’ Government house price surveys continue to be published.
A new deadline appears to have been set for publication at the end of May.
Instead, the National Statistician’s Review of Housing Market Statistics webpage says it has been delayed “to ensure that the wider housing market review fully considers future plans for house price statistics, which are still in the process of being developed”.
No date is given for the consultation to close, or for publication.
Jil Matheson said last December: “There is a great deal of interest in and importance placed on changes in the value of our houses by all sections of society.
“I want to be sure that official statistics producers are providing the right statistics on house prices to support decision making by us all.”
This week, Jason Bradbury, who chairs the steering group for the National Statistician’s Review of Official Housing Market Statistics, said that the report would be “published in due course” and that “interested parties have been kept informed of progress”.
Currently, the Land Registry is reporting average house prices in England and Wales as being £42,000 less than the average house price for the UK that is being quoted by CLG.
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