House price index - quarterly data
methods, notes and classification
DATA_DESCR House Price Indices (HPIs) measure inflation in the residential property market. The HPI captures price changes of all kinds of residential property purchased by households (flats, detached houses, terraced houses, etc.), both new and existing. Only market prices are considered, self-build dwellings are therefore excluded. The land component of the residential property is included. These indices are the result of the work that National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) have been doing mostly within the framework of the Owner-Occupied Housing (OOH) pilot project coordinated by Eurostat HPIs are available for EU Member States, Iceland and Norway. In addition to the individual country series Eurostat produces indices for the euro-area (17 countries) and for the EU27. The national HPIs are produced by National Statistical Institutes, while the country-group aggregates are computed by Eurostat, by aggregating the national indices. The data that is released quarterly on Eurostat's website include price indices themselves as well as their rates of change compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
CLASS_SYSTEM The HPIs are classified according to the following categories H.1. Purchases of dwellings H.1.1. Purchases of new dwellings H.1.2. Purchases of existing dwellings
STAT_CONC_DEF The published data is as follows: Quarterly data:- Index HPI 2010=100- Percentage change compared to same quarter of the previous year. The first indicator, House Price Index, measures the price evolution of dwellings in the reference period, compared to the base period. The second indicator is computed as the percentage change in the House Price Index compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Emphasis is on market prices of residential properties, non-marketed prices are ruled out from the scope of the HPI; so self-built dwellings are excluded. All transactions are included (both cash and mortgage). Focus is on the measurement of price developments of all residential properties purchased by households, independently of its final use; so dwellings bought by households for uses other than owner- occupancy are included (for investment, e.g. to rent it out); Focus is on dwelling acquisitions, independently of its previous owner; so all purchases of new and existing dwellings are to be considered, including those existing dwellings transacted between households.
STAT_UNIT Each published index or rate of change refers to the expenditure by the household sector for acquiring residential property in the corresponding geographical entity. Expenditure includes all acquisitions of residential property, covering transactions with other sectors and transactions that are internal to the household sector.
STAT_POP The target statistical universe is the household expenditure for the acquisition of residential property within the economic territories of the countries compiling the HPI. The household sector to which the definition refers includes all individuals or groups of individuals irrespective of, in particular, the type of area in which they live, their position in the income distribution and their nationality status. These definitions follow the national account concepts in the European System of Accounts (ESA 1995). HPIs comprise all dwellings purchased in monetary transactions by households within the territory of a country; those by both resident and non-resident households (i.e. 'domestic concept').
REF_AREA European Union (EU), euro area (European Monetary Union), EU Member States, Iceland, Norway.
BASE_PER HPIs are chain-linked Laspeyres-type price indices published using a common index reference period (2010=100).
UNIT_MEASURE Following units are used: Index: equal 100 in the base period. For any other period, the HPI can be reckoned of as the amount that the buyer would have to spend on average in that given period to buy a residential property having a value of 100 in the base period. Percentage change on the same period of the previous year (rates)
Methods 
Explanatory Notes 
Variables