As we have been banging on about for ages, there are huge differences in the Government’s two “official” house price surveys – the Land Registry and the Office for National Statistics.

This is despite the fact that both draw information from the Land Registry.

However, it seems there are also differences between the two “official” rental indices – the ONS and the Valuation Office Agency.

This is despite the fact both are based on the same data collected by VOA rent officers.

Now a brave attempt has been made – by the ONS – to explain the differences in a paper called Explaining Private Rental Growth.

Quite frankly, we started getting lost on the first page which was merrily throwing more acronyms around than is good for anyone’s mental wellbeing – VOA, PRM, CPIH, and best of all OOH (it stands for Owner Occupiers’ Housing Costs).

However, it seems that single rooms in HMOs are excluded from the ONS’s rental indices, which also excludes services sometimes included in a rent such as utilities and council tax.

We particularly like the explanation that average rents grew from £810 per month at the start of 2010 to £930 per month by March this year.

It seems straightforward, but apparently not: about 40% of the increase in rent can be attributed to a change in the sampling and not, er, to an increase in rent!

For those who enjoy official statistics, seasonal adjustment, graphs, charts, weighted and unweighted figures …. OOH, you’ll love this one