The Government has today launched a review of Housing market Statistics after it was revealed the various methods used for calculating house prices may be causing considerable confusion. The review is being conducted by the National Statistician and has begun by viewing the 'coherence and comparability' of the house price indexes created by the Communities and Local Government as well as the Land Registry. 

The confusion in statistics has come about by the sheer volume of agencies producing these reports as well as the varying stages at which these statistics are taken. As well as the two indexes produced by the Government both Halifax and Nationwide also compile statistics and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) produce a survey which looks at housing market trends. Those these are the indexes mainly referred to a number of other groups such as Rightmove and Hometrack also track movements and changes in house prices. 

The additional problem to the sheer wealth of indexes is the point at which they are created during the house buying process. The stages at which groups take their information to compile indexes ranges from asking prices to the completion of sale, meaning the resulting indexes can vary considerably. 

The UK Statistics Authority announced the first stage of the review would focus on customer satisfaction with the two house price indexes produced by the Government and the understanding of the differences between them. The results of this report are expected to be announced before the end of the year. A second stage will follow to see how satisfied people are with the more general housing market statistics.