Content
About the statistics
Definitions
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Name and topic
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Name: Price index for office and business properties (discontinued)
Topic: Prices and price indices
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Responsible division
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Division for Construction and Service
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Definitions of the main concepts and variables
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Not relevant
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Standard classifications
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Price is the registered purchase price of the property, including VAT.
Utility floor space is the floor area measured within the outer walls, as defined in the Norwegian Standard NS 3940 Area and volume calculations of buildings.
Price per square metre is calculated by dividing the price by the utility floor space.
Administrative information
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Regional level
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National level
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Frequency and timeliness
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Biannual
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International reporting
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Not relevant
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Microdata
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Data on building level is stored as text files on Unix.
Background
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Background and purpose
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Statistics Norway has decided to stop the publication of the Price index for office and commercial premises as from the first half of 2008. This is due to changes in the data basis, which is based on officially registered sales of these types of property. Since office and commercial premises are to an increasing extent owned by limited companies (which means they are not officially registered when sold), the data basis is diminishing. A limited data basis leads to more uncertain price calculations.
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Users and applications
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The development in property prices may have a direct effect on the financial strength of financial institutions and the stability in the financial market. The development in prices of office and business buildings is also an important indicator of business prospects.
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Coherence with other statistics
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The price index for office and business properties uses data from the same register as the Division for Primary Industry Statistics uses for the Transfer of real property statistics.
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Legal authority
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The Statistics Act, Sections 2-1, 2-2 and 2-3
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EEA reference
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Not relevant
Production
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Population
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The population includes all registered transfers of office and business properties. The statistical unit may be a building, a part of a building or multiple buildings.
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Data sources and sampling
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The data are obtained from two sources: the Ground Parcel, Address and Building Register (GAB) and a quarterly survey. GAB provides information on price and location of the properties as well as purchaser information.
Complete census
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Collection of data, editing and estimations
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To get more information than what is available in GAB, questionnaires are sent to all purchasers of office and business properties. It is also possible to report data on the Internet. If addresses are missing in GAB, they are found in the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities (Brønnøysundregistrene). The questionnaires are sent out five to six weeks after the end of a quarter. The response deadline is set to three weeks after distribution.
Mathematical and logical checks form integrated parts of the registration procedure. Prices per square metre are checked and in cases of uncertainty the respondent is contacted by telephone. In addition the following requirements apply:
- No more than one year between contract year and registered transfer year
- Sites without buildings are not included
- Buildings purchased to be demolished are not included
- Utility floor space between 50 and 20 000 square meters
- Price per square meter between NOK 1 000 and NOK 45 000
Sub-indices for three price zones are calculated using the hedonic method. These sub-indices are weighted and combined into an index for the country as a whole. The weights represent the estimated total value of the stock of office and business properties within each price zone.
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Confidentiality
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Not relevant
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Comparability over time and space
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The index goes back to first half of 1996, and the same calculations are used.
Accuracy and reliability
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Sources of error and uncertainty
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There is always a risk that respondents misunderstand one or more questions in the questionnaire. The questionnaires are read optically with automatic verification and transferred to an electronic storage medium. Errors can occur during the optical scanning, particularly in the processing of figures consisting of several digits.
The sample covers all registered sales of office and business properties. Consequently, there is no sample variance or sample skewness.
Non-response: Because some respondents either refrain from returning the questionnaire or return it with incorrect information, non-response will always be an aspect of questionnaire surveys. The resulting variations in the index estimates are called non-response errors. The response rate at the deadline date is approximately 55 per cent. After reminders have been sent out the response rate climbs to approximately 80 per cent. Data from the questionnaire are used as long as information on key variables are provided.
The time which elapses between the contract date and registration date can be long. If it exceeds one year, the sale is not included in the index. Furthermore, properties sold in the first half of the year may be included in the statistics for the second half of the year.
Buildings may also be incorrectly classified, i.e. an office or business building may be given an incorrect building classification in the register. Revision of the data has sometimes shown that some manufacturing and warehouse buildings have been incorrectly classified as office and business buildings.