Nationwide Housing Prices YoY

Nationwide Housing Prices YoY is the annual percent change series of the Nationwide House Price Index, shown as Annual Change in releases. It is published by Nationwide Building Society, a UK building society and mortgage lender. It is not the official all market index, which covers completed sales including cash deals with land registry data. It tracks owner occupier house purchases funded by Nationwide mortgages and seen at approval after valuation is complete.

The mix adjusted price tracks a typical UK home, an average across features that does not exist physically. A reading of 0% means prices are unchanged from a year earlier, while a positive value means higher and a negative value means lower. The publisher presents the yearly rate beside the seasonally adjusted monthly change, so readers track whether annual growth is speeding or slowing.

Data come from monthly mortgage approvals with completed valuations, since approvals give an earlier signal than completions. The monthly index appears within a few days either side of the final day of the month. Quarterly regional detail appears with it at quarter ends, with no fixed weekday or time of day stated. Each release shows a Headlines table with seasonally adjusted monthly index and change, annual change and average price.

It also brings commentary by the Chief Economist with charts, plus regional statistics and special topic analysis at quarter ends. Figures are recalculated each month, so historical data can be revised. Seasonal factors are re estimated each month, so adjusted values can change, and any restatement is noted in the release.

Yearly change moves with mix adjusted prices for home features, not with shifts in the mix of sales. The sample draws on a second largest lender with about 13% share of house purchase lending, which supports broad coverage.

Location, neighbourhood character and property size rank as the three most important drivers, followed by design. Weights refresh every two years on four years of data. Regional weights use land registry, tax and finance sources, with joining factors keeping the series continuous.

• UK location: captures price gaps between parts of the country, with external weights removing lender mix bias.

• Neighbourhood type: captures area character across 61 demographic area types, grouped by ACORN area classification.

• Property size: captures living space and bedroom count effects on price levels.

• Property design: captures detached, semi detached, terraced, bungalow and flat price gaps.

• New-build flag: captures whether the home is new or second hand.

Detailed splits cover thirteen regions, buyer type for first time buyers and former owners, property types and property age.

1. Source and clean: Take the monthly purchase approvals for owner occupiers with completed valuations. Remove remortgages, further advances, buy to let, discounted right to buy prices, atypical properties and Virgin Money UK cases.

1. Hedonic regression: Use hedonic regression to link price to home features on that month records. It estimates how location, neighbourhood, design, bedrooms and new build status shape price.

1. Typical-house pricing: Price a fixed basket called the typical UK home. Hold the basket fixed so only model prices move, with joining factors keeping the series continuous.

1. Seasonal adjustment: Apply the Census seasonal method to the monthly index. Report month on month change on the adjusted series and the average price not seasonally adjusted.

1. Year-on-year rate: Compare the mix adjusted price with the same month a year earlier. For example, 260000 then 246220 gives -5.3%, which shows a fall from a year earlier.

The average price is a mix adjusted typical home price, not a simple average of sold homes. The simple average runs higher, since a few costly homes pull it up. Methods resemble those of another lender index, but tracked representative homes differ, so average prices differ.