where the cost of residential property is through the roof. In broad

economic terms, house prices may provide an indicator of a nation's

financial stability, but finding accurate figures is tricky due to

market volatility, relatively low turnover and time lags in reporting

data. The popular measure of median house sale prices does not tell the

full story, argues Jan de Haan of Statistics Netherlands, who has been

working on a handbook aimed at harmonising global house price indices

for the European Commission's Eurostat. He outlines the right way to

measure up.