Land Registry

While Halifax and Nationwide have only had their own mortgage and valuation figures to look at one other organisation has always had a lot more house price information – the Government. Actual sale prices are recorded by the Land Registry and these can also be used to produce a property price index. In theory Land Registry figures should be the most accurate of all – they avoid the problem of price changes between mortgages being approved and transactions actually completing. But critics point to the big time lag between loan approvals and the arrival of sale values on the Government registers. So Land Registry figures, while solid, can often feel out of date by the time they are released. It’s a problem the Government is happy to face up to. It is currently examining how its figures are used and if procedures can be changed to give a clearer picture of the market. The results of a major review in conjunction with the Office of National Statistics are due in 2007.