Here’s what’s driving that house price confusion
The UK’s main house price indices have been diverging noticeably in recent years, as this blog pointed out last week. A look at the trends in housing sales helps explain why.
Here are some useful charts from housing data firm Hometrack. Read more
Are UK house prices going up or down?
A pretty obvious question, you might think. And you’d be right. Yet there’s a surprising amount of uncertainty about the answer.
There are several house price indices which are popularly used in the UK: the Office for National Statistics produces one (previously run by the Department for Communities & Local Government, and hence often called the ONS/DCLG index), as does the Land Registry (the agency which logs all legal sales data). Big mortgage lenders like Halifax and Nationwide produce their own. And then there are those created by independent researchers such as Acadametrics, RICS, Rightmove and Hometrack.
A comparison of these measures shows that there’s quite a bit of variation between them (see below for a brief description of their methodologies). They all closely mapped the UK’s recession-driven price slide in 2008-09, but since then, their findings have become increasingly diverse: Read more
Busting that “Europeans love renting” myth
The British are fond of trotting out the stereotype of their European cousins as apartment-dwelling renters. The comparison is particularly popular when set in contrast with Britons’ traditional “home is my castle” attitude, which supposedly underlies their love of owner-occupation.
But is it actually true? Read more
Our interconnected world
What may be the most comprehensive Internet census to date has given a fascinating snapshot of today’s interconnected world. The research was carried out by an anonymous hacker who illegally infiltrated computer networks around the world, and mapped what they found.
There are 1.3 billion IP addresses (individual location identifiers) in use today, of which around 10 per cent are unsecure, the paper estimates. But they are very geographically concentrated; the vast areas of darkness are striking: Read more
Will building more homes help make housing more affordable?
It’s a common cry: “Housing costs are spiralling … we need to build more!” But will building more homes help to reduce the cost of housing?
In actual fact, building more homes seems to be associated with house prices rising. Or perhaps vice versa. Read more
Did government-backed lending cause the US housing bubble?
Britain’s Chancellor has today announced a substantial expansion of the government’s intervention in the housing market. Specifically, he’s going to give government backing to a great deal more mortgage lending. There have already been cries of “Fannie Mae!” as commentators remember the disastrous housing bubble in the US.
But were Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac really responsible for driving up house prices? Hmm, maybe not actually. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Kate Allen works in the editorial statistics team in London. She previously specialised in housing data reporting for a national trade magazine.
Chris Cook works in the FT's comment team. After joining the FT in 2008 as a Peter Martin Fellow, he worked for two years as a leader writer and then as education correspondent.
Emily Cadman joined the FT in 2010 and is head of the interactive desk.
Martin Stabe works on the FT's interactive team, specialising in databases for interactive graphics.
Keith Fray heads the editorial statistics team, providing data for articles and graphics. His background is in economics, studying at Birkbeck College, London.
Norma Cohen is the FT's Demography Correspondent.
Valentina Romei is a statistical researcher at the FT. She joined the FT in 2008 after working both as an academic and market researcher.
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