Office for National Statistics
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Guest Blogs
The new ONS house price index: is it a ‘Trojan horse’ for revaluation of council tax?
Analysis from Maskells Estate Agents reveals that the new ONS official house price index (HPI), which launches in June, could be used to revalue council tax bands. The new house price index has been described as a way for Government to create a single ‘official index’ on house prices and avoid the confusion created by the many existing indices. In fact, it could have far more reaching consequences, which fundamentally change the way UK property is taxed, says Maskells’ Principal and Data Analyst, Charles Curran. Currently, council tax is calculated on bands based on house prices in 1991 and makes no allowances for house price increases over the past 25 years. Average council tax on a Band D home in England over the last ten years (Source: ONS) However, Maskell’s analysis has found the new HPI uses data from the Valuation Office (VOA), which has details of each property in the UK. Previously, revaluing property for Councils would have required an army of surveyors, which would have been prohibitively expensive. In theory, the new index will make it possible to appraise every home in the country at the touch of a button. Charles says, “Council Tax no longer has any…
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Housing Market
Annual home price growth falls – ONS
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal that residential property prices rose by 10.4 per cent to an average of £271,000 in the year to the end of October 2014, down from an annual price increase of 12.1 per cent the previous month, suggesting that house price growth in the UK is continuing to tail off, especially in the capital. London yet again showed the strongest growth in prices, although the market in the capital is cooling, with annual growth falling in October to 17.2 per cent from 18.8 per cent in September. But with all the focus on the downward trend in property price growth in recent months, we are in danger of forgetting that a double-digit rise in home values over the past twelve months is “an impressive leap”, according to Peter Rollings (right), CEO of Marsh & Parsons. He commented: “After the exertions of the summer months, this is simply a period of natural re-calibration, restoring a more sustainable pace of price inflation. Growth is still ticking along in the right direction.” House price annual inflation in October reached 10.8 per cent in England, 5.7 per cent in Wales, 4.9 per cent in…
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