The new improved index has been developed jointly with other official producers of house price statistics following a review by the National Statistician, uses data from, amongst others, the Land Registry and Council of Mortgage Lenders.

By using these comprehensive datasets together, as well as by employing the best internationally agreed methods, the new UK HPI aims to give the best and most detailed picture of the UK housing market.

For the most recent period, December 2011, the new UK HPI shows an average price level of £185,000 for England and Wales. This is lower than the price recorded by the current Office of National Statistics index for England at £222,000 for the same period.

But it is above the equivalent price levels recorded by the Land Registry for England and Wales at £157,000, the Halifax for the UK at £157,000 and Nationwide for the UK at £163,000.

The main reason for the decrease in price levels from the ONS index to the new UK index is the use of the geometric mean, which reduces the impact of very high value properties on the headline data.

Over the period from 2003 to 2011, which is the longest comparable period available, the average annual growth is 5.2% for the ONS index for England, 4.6% for the Land Registry index for England and Wales, 4.7% for the Halifax for the UK, 5.3% for Nationwide for the UK and 6.1% for the new UK index for England and Wales.

The inclusion of cash sales and improved weights are both contributing to the increased growth seen in the new UK index, according to ONS statistician Chris Jenkins.

‘By combing different data sets and using the best internationally agreed methods, the new UK HPI will give the best possible picture of the changing UK property market,’ he explained.

‘For the first time, consistent high quality data will be available for both national and local areas, helping policy makers to make better decisions,’ he added.

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