The latest release of the two most prominent home price indices for the United Kingdom are continuing to signal weakness with continued sluggishness.The “Nationwide” series, indicated that U.K. home prices declined by a slight 0.02% from January falling 0.09% below the level seen in February 2010 while the “Halifax” series increased 0.26% from January but declined a notable 3.00% below the level seen a year earlier.
Both indices are similar to our own S&P/Case-Shiller data series in that they both implement a methodology that seeks to standardize the quality homes included as source data and track the price changes occurring between sales instead of simply tracking the distorted average or median sales price.
The following chart (click for full-screen dynamic chart) show the price movement since 1991 to each index.
