Why do Nationwide and Halifax give different house prices?

Why does each house price index show a different number?

Each index is built from a different set of homes, measured at a different point in the selling process. A house price index is a regular report that tracks the average price of homes across the UK. Because one report looks at prices when a seller first lists, and another looks at prices only once a sale has legally completed months later, they are describing different moments in time and different groups of properties.

Rightmove measures asking prices, which is what sellers hope to get on the day they list. Nationwide and Halifax each use mortgage approvals from their own lending, so they only see buyers who borrowed from them, and they exclude cash buyers entirely. Zoopla uses sales that have been agreed. The Office for National Statistics, using HM Land Registry data, uses sales that have fully completed and legally changed hands, which is the most complete picture but also the most delayed.

From July 2026 the Halifax House Price Index was renamed the Lloyds House Price Index. The name changed but the method did not, so the figures continue the same series.

Which house price index is the most accurate?

None of them is wrong, and none is the single truth, because they answer different questions. The ONS index, built on completed HM Land Registry sales, is the most complete because it counts every sale including cash buyers, but it lags by about two months. Rightmove is the earliest signal because it captures seller intentions the moment a home is listed, but asking prices are hopes, not results.

• For the earliest read on seller confidence, watch Rightmove asking prices.
• For a fast monthly steer on lending and buyer activity, watch Nationwide and Halifax.
• For the most complete and official record of what homes actually sold for, watch the ONS and HM Land Registry, and accept the delay.

What does this mean for what my home is worth?

It means a national average is the wrong tool for pricing your specific home. These indices blend a one-bed flat in Sunderland with a five-bed house in Surrey, so the average tells you about the country, not your street. Your home's value is set by what similar homes near you have recently sold for, the condition and layout of your property, and what buyers in your area will pay today.

ValuQ is the platform that gives UK homeowners free, side-by-side property valuations from competing local estate agents, without handing over your details until you choose to. Seeing several local valuations next to each other, each backed by the agent's own comparable sales, tells you far more about your home than any national headline number ever can.

A national average prices the country. Only a real valuation prices your home.

The practical takeaway for a seller is simple. Use the indices to understand the direction of the market, not to set your price. When you are ready to know what your own home is worth, get real valuations from local agents who can point to the actual sales behind their number.