Here´s a look at how the UK Property Market is performing according to various Property Index commentators:

NEW - See ´Who Predicted What´ for UK House Prices in 2010

Halifax - Britains largest Mortgage lender - takes it´s figures from Mortgage approvals across it´s network. Tends to lag the edge of the market by up to 3 months and is subject to monthly fluctuations. Quarterly and annual figures are better.

Monthly: DOWN 0.4%  Annual monthly: UP 6.9%

In recent months, Halifax reports have bounced between negative and positive, but annual figures remain negative and they are not forecasting the bottom of the slump or any significant price rises this year.  See Predictions

Nationwide - Takes figures from Mortgage completions through mortgage lending - Similarly subject to fluctuations and lags the edge of the market by 2-4 months.

Monthly: UP 0.5%   Annual:  UP 9.8%. 

In January 08, spokesperson John Wriglesworth stated ´There´s more chance of finding Elvis on the moon, than a house price crash over the next 5 years´..... (John has since ´changed his mind´ but we´ll be reminding you of this quote for years to come.) But it does show that you can´t put too much stock in the opinion of experts?

Land Registry - Takes actual SOLD prices from every property sale in the UK, which can be a very small sample. The data is raw and is subject to wild fluctuations. It is unable to take into account refurbishment or upgrade values, and relies on a volume of sales to work. Because it takes SOLD values from registered property (Up to 3 Months after Completion) the data is usually 6-9 months behind the edge of the market.

Nov 09 - New figures show prices rose 0.6% and stand at 3.4 % down since Nov 08. Perhaps more importantly, transactions are down for the same period, which suggests these numbers could be ´squeezed´.

Monthly: DOWN 0.2% Annual: UP 8.2%

Rightmove - Britains Largest property portal - Takes Asking prices of the property on its website. Subject to inaccuracies/fluctuatons/manipulation & market changes, but ´can´ be a good forward indicator of where house prices are going.

Asking prices rose 0.3% . Annually asking prices are UP 5.0% from 2009.

Hometrack - Independent Market Survey - Takes ´opinions´ of Estate Agents across the country. Because the figures rely on anecdotal evidence it is subject to manipulation and fluctuations, It can be the best and worst indicator of the market, depending on the honesty of Estate Agents (Paragons of truth and virtue!). Potentially the best future indicator of any of the indices.

Monthly: UP 0.1%  Annual: UP 2.1% 

Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors - Reports on the ´house price balance´, takes it´s figures from Surveys carried out by it´s members and records the confidence in the markets. Not completely accurate, but offers a fairly up-to-date ´opinion´ of professional valuers.

RICS predicted only small increases in property values through 2010. With the axing of HIPS, they predict more stock on the market and this could hinder any price rises.

RICS forecast House Prices to fall in 2008/09 around 5%, a more modest decline than some forecasts. It predicted the market would escape a slump like the early 1990s because of a lower number of distressed sellers compared with 15 years ago, when homeowners were struggling with soaring interest rates. The Institute also predicted house sale transactions down by 40%.

(Oyster Comment: very conservative numbers, their opinion about avoiding a 1990´s type ´slump´ could appear to be a little optimistic?)

Department of Communities and Local Government reporting Year-on-Year increase of 10.1%.

Knight Frank (London Central Agency) forecast house prices will drop back to the levels of 2003, approximately 30% off their peak in 2007. With average prices 15% from the peak and up to 50% in some sectors (New Build)that means another 15% between now and the end of 2009. Although it believes the ´super-prime´ London market will recover quicker, possibly by 2012. Residential property values in London show a 16% drop in 2008.

Telegraph/Lombard Street Research - runs a barometer of affordability index, which offers a guide to how over/under-priced UK property values are. Recently the Barometer showed 83.8, which means little, until spokeperson Diana Choyleva explains it shows UK property is at its least affordable since 1991.

Council of Mortgage Lenders - CML focuses on Mortgages and these figures are important to UK property values and could predict future trends. Although the accuracy of the data is unconfirmed and some question its validity.

How good is the CML at this?  In mid-2008 the CML  revised it´s 2008 prediction from 1% increase on Property values to a 7% fall, along with a 33% increase in property Repossessions to 45,000 (From 30,000), and forecasting a further increases in future. However, they were wrong, when less than 40,000 were repossessed in ´08. Undeterred, they predicted repossessions would hit 75,000 in 2009, yet halfway through 09, they´ve revised that figure down to 60,000. I´m afraid predicting the outcome of something halfway through (and still getting it wrong) isn´t exactly ´clairvoyant´ is it?

CML predicted slight house price growth for 2008, without putting any numbers on it, whilst expecting a 15% decline in the number of properties sold and small drop in overall mortgage lending. UPDATED May 08. CML predicted a 35% decline in transactions . (Still far too low.) (Oyster Comment: This report was published in Oct 07 and we imagine the CML would want to revise some of these numbers?)

Acadametrics/Financial Times - Based on the Land Registry Data, CLG and FTHPI, the prices of actual properties SOLD. However, a complicated form of ´Deviation correction´ is required, or Confidence Limit as they call it.

Price Change: Monthly - DOWN 0.2%  Annual - UP 9.7%