Commercial property price indicators : sources, methods and issues : 2017 edition

Developments in the real estate sector can have a strong impact on the economy, in particular on the financial system. For that reason, policymakers need relevant statistical information, including reliable indicators, to help identify the emergence of systemic risks originating in the real estate sector. While the statistical coverage of the residential real estate market has much improved over the last decade, the commercial property sector was given less attention. The importance of measuring commercial property price indicators and the difficulties in properly doing so, particularly in the context of official statistics, were the driving force behind the production of this report. The primary aim is to outline concepts, methods, data sources and key issues so as to better inform compilers and users. The report makes a first attempt at setting out the wide range of challenges linked to the measurement of commercial property. It provides a basis for further work in this new area of statistics. 'Commercial property price indicators: sources, methods and issues' was written by leading academics in index number theory and experts in the compilation of real estate indicators. Its development was coordinated by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, with the collaboration of Bank of International Settlements (BIS), European Central Bank (ECB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), under the aegis of the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Price Statistics (IWGPS).