Hometrack provide the most up to date independent survey of UK house prices and market trends. Hometrack provides the most in-depth, up-to-date and independent survey of house prices and market trends in England and Wales. Whether you are buying, selling or simply want to find more about an area, Hometrack provide the very latest information.

More About Hometrack

Established in 1999, Hometrack is the only independent property research and database company in the UK. Hometrack focus on products and services for business and consumers in the residential property market.

Hometrack offer a range of automated valuation services for surveyors, banks, building societies and institutions. Hometrack is part of a group of property related companies with assets totalling £1.2bn.

In the course of this activity Hometrack have developed the means to identify the most efficient estate agents, surveyors, lawyers and lenders, as well as developing streamlined automated valuation systems and procedures. The technology behind Hometrack is based on these years of experience as one of the largest principals of the residential property market.

In order to preserve Hometrack's total independence, Hometrack does not enter into any financial relationship with estate agents. Estate agents do not pay Hometrack to be recommended, and neither does Hometrack pay them to provide information for the Hometrack Index TM. Hometrack does however, sell products and services to estate agents which enhance their service.

Hometrack maintain:

• A unique housing database that details the latest market information at the postcode level including property prices and trends, allowing area profiling, neighbourhood and property scoring. Over 7,500 reports are received monthly with contributions being made from up to 3,500 Hometrack approved agents.
• A unique estate agent database that includes full profiles of every agency in England and Wales based on a mystery shopping exercise of over 12,000 agencies. The top 30% have been asked to contribute data to the housing database.
• A range of products and services for the estate agency sector that allows them to provide enhanced services to their customers and create improved business opportunities.

How Hometrack Select Recommended Agents

Hometrack took the unprecedented step of carrying out an independent survey of every estate agent in England and Wales, in towns with a population of more than 10,000. This research enabled Hometrack to identify the most efficient estate agents in each area, with the most authoritative local knowledge. Only those agents that ranked in the top 30% of the Hometrack survey are termed 'Hometrack recommended' and asked to contribute to the Hometrack Index TM.

The contributing agents featured in each postcode are those recommended agents who respond to the Hometrack Index TM questionnaire each month.

How Hometrack Keep Their Information Current And Independent

Hometrack's recommended agents send them information on their local housing markets: whether prices are going up or down, most frequently listed properties and prices achieved on recent sales. Hometrack endeavour to gain information from at least two Hometrack recommended agents in every postcode area, so the information Hometrack carry is always aggregated from a number of independent sources. The Hometrack Index TM is updated monthly, and agents re-evaluated annually. Agents are not paid for the service, and Hometrack receives no payments from participating agents.

Using Hometrack's independent and up-to-date data, you will be as well informed as market professionals when you decide to buy, sell or remortgage.

How To Understand The Information On Hometrack

Here are some tips on how to interpret and make the best use of the Hometrack data available in the free area guide:

1) What is the market doing?

• Price Trends - Hometrack have chosen to use the agents' assessments of price changes, as they are able to best interpret the market data. Within individual postcodes the data can be skewed from month to month when, for instance, one month may find two-bedroom flats selling, and the next, larger properties. The best estate agents will take these factors into account when giving market data.

Is the property different?

• Property Types - displays Census derived data detailing the make up of the property stock by type within a postcode.
• Average Prices - prices shown here are the average achieved for each category of home (terraced, semi-detached, detached, flats and maisonettes) in the postcode.

Want a more detailed view?

If you are interested in calculating the value of your property the individual property report can be purchased with the following detailed data:

• Similar properties selected from sales, valuations and properties previously on the market in your area
• How many viewings will it take to sell?
• How long will it take to sell?
• What is a reasonable Sale price versus Asking Price?
• What sold in the past and for how much?
• What is happening in the surrounding area?

Regional Hotspots

In order to provide an overview of the greater housing market, Hometrack have aggregated the postcode data and produced it on a regional "hotspot" basis. Hometrack data currently covers postcodes in England and Wales; the rest of the UK will be available soon on Hometrack.