The new ‘official’ house price index made its first appearance yesterday, replacing the ones separately published by the ONS and Land Registry.

Using different methodology, it cuts the average UK house price by almost £100,000.

The new index covers the whole UK and is a joint production between the Land Registry, ONS, Registers of Scotland and Land and Property Services Northern Ireland.

The new index is being initially published as an “experimental official statistic”, probably until the end of this year.

Yesterday, it said that annual house price inflation across the UK stood at 8.2% in April, down from 8.5% in March.

In London, annual house price inflation stood at 14.5%, compared with just 0.1% in the north-east.

The average UK house price was £209,000, which it claimed was up £16,000 from April last year. However, the ONS’s last house price survey, using the previous methodology, put the average house price at £292,000 in March. EYE consistently drew attention to the huge gap between the previous ONS and Land Registry indices.

The average house price in the City of London stood at £928,217. The local authority area with the lowest average house price was Merthyr Tydfil at £82,217, down 11.1% annually.

Sales volumes across the UK are reported for February, standing at 56,884 in England and overall at some 70,000.

The new index includes both cash sales and new homes.