Safe as houses
The average house price in England and Wales is £169,124, according to the Government-owned Land Registry, which says its index is the “most accurate independent index available”.
But the Office for National Statistics, which along with the Land Registry is one of the main indices used by central and local Government, says the average house value is £192,200.
And Rightmove, which reports asking prices and records 90% of all properties for sale, says the average price is £272,003.
Then there is Nationwide which says average house prices are £183,577 or there is Halifax which says the average price is £177,648 and there’s even LSL Acadametrics which says the average is £263,113.
Everyone agrees that house prices are rising and the Governor of the Bank of England has described the housing market as the biggest risk to financial stability and long-term economic recovery.
But agreeing on the price of the average house is more complicated. Based on the indices it is anywhere between £169,124 and £272,003 which is a difference of nearly 61%.
Anyone who has bought or sold a house can agree that valuing houses is more of an art than a science but a 61% difference would mean a lot of haggling.
All of the indices are correct within their parameters and the limits of their methodologies. Halifax and Nationwide, for instance, base their indices on their own transactions which given that they are leading mortgage lenders with major market shares is genuine market intelligence.
The old joke is that the housing market needs an index of indices but in reality all the indices co-exist happily and all deliver market insights and commentary and deliver on-message coverage for the organisations behind them.
They all demonstrate the power of independent research and market commentary to underpin media relations. Nationwide and Halifax could simply talk about their mortgages and compete on price but instead because they are talking about the market they are established as mortgage experts who can then talk about their loans.
They have a reason to talk to the media about mortgage issues and can position their spokespeople as experts who the media want to talk to because they have unique market insights which then enable them to talk to the media about their mortgages.
It is potentially a virtuous circle – but of course not all companies can launch their own index and bigger companies have the advantage over smaller firms of market size and name recognition.
What all companies can do is establish their own research and a distinctive position to stand out from the crowd. Talking about the market will mean the market talking about you.