We know house prices have been falling but why does nobody agree on how much?

I read with interest recently the CEBR’s predictions for the total fall in house prices and when it expects the turnaround to come and that got me thinking on the topic of house prices in general.

The basic problem with house prices is, whose do you use? The ones the press often pick up on are those from the Halifax and Nationwide, largely I suspect, because of their timeliness. However, the Land Registry, Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG), Hometrack and Rightmove all regularly publish estimates of house price movements and if we look at the last year for which we have data from all, to end 2008, we get end up with significantly different house price growth/decline figures.

This article continues at James Hastings' blog

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