Halifax United Kingdom House Price Index (HPI) m/m

Halifax House Price Index (HPI) m/m demonstrates a change in the price of homes and properties in the given month compared to the previous month. It is calculated by the largest UK mortgage lender Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS), based on long-term data series. Monthly mortgage property price data statistic goes back to 1983. This long-term data is used to calculate a "standardized" house price and measure its changes.

A house price depends on its characteristics, including physical properties (size and number of rooms), as well as the type of district the house is located in. Therefore, the average house cost is calculated using a hedonic regression rather than a simple arithmetic mean. This allows calculating the price of an average "typical" UK house and its change over time. This "typical" house does not physically exist; it represents a certain model with given characteristics, which, in turn, are used in a mathematical formula.

HPI information is derived from Halifax lending data. Property transactions paid by cash are not included in the sample data. The index is seasonally adjusted, because winter months tend to see weaker price rises and spring/summer see higher increases due to market activity changes.

Halifax Housing Price Index is an alternative inflation index in the UK housing market. Its advantage over the HPI provided by the Office for National Statistics is a deeper data sampling (monthly price change statistics have been collected since 1983). The weak point is the limited data source (only mortgage loans issued by Halifax, no cash transactions).

The index growth can be seen as positive for the pound quotes since it indicates an inflationary increase in the property market.