Owner occupied housing price index (OOHPI)

National Statistical Institute 

Consumer Prices, Housing prices and PPP Department

Albena Dancheva

Head of Department

2 Panayot Volov Str., 1038 Sofia

[email protected]

+359 2 9857 767

Hoseholds on the territory of the country, which are owner-occupiers, irrespective of the type of area in which they live, their position in the income distribution and their nationality status.

Prices incurred by private households, which are owner-occupiers.

The statistical population consists of all households' expenditures spent for the acquisition of residential property new for the households’ sector and expenditures incurred by households in their role as an owner-occupier. 

OOHPI cover the whole territory of the country.

2015=100

Quarter

None.

• Law on Statistics;

• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

  https://www.nsi.bg/sites/default/files/files/pages/LegalBasis_e/Consolidated_version_of_amended_Regulation_223_2009_EN.pdf

lndividual data are not published in accordance with article 25 of the Law on Statistics. The publishing of individual data can be performed only in accordance with article 26 of the same law.

OOHPI are published for the first time on the site of NSI in 2022 and will be released quarterly - 85 days after the end of the observed quarter. Date of publication of the statistical information is specified at the Release Calendar published on the site of the National Statistical Institute.

The calendar is available on the NSI website: https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/480

OOHPI are published on the NSI website, in section Housing price statistics in accordance with the Law on Statistics and the European Statistics Code of Practice respecting the professional independence and aimed at objectivity, transparency and equal treatment of all consumers.

Quarterly

None.

None.

OOHPI are available to all users on the NSI website under the heading Housing price statistics: https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/13023

Microdata are not diseminated.

None.

EU and EC regulations:

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/housing-price-statistics/legislation

Quality report in ESS Standard for Quality Reports Structure (ESQRS) - https://www.nsi.bg/en/content/13025/housing-price-statistics

The quality of the OOHPI is routinely reviewed using a framework that is based on the OOH technical manual and the European Statistical System (ESS) definition of quality.

No information.

None.

Sampling errors are not calculated for OOHP indices.

Data are published according to NSI Release calendar - 85 days after the end of the observed quarter. 

Data are always delivered and published on the pre-announced release dates.

OOHPI are internally coherent. Higher level aggregations are derived from detailed indices in accordance with strictly-defined procedures. 

OOHPI are revisable under the terms of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1148 of 31 July 2020. Published OOHPI may be revised for mistakes, new or improved information and methodological improvements.

OOHPI are published as preliminary and are usually confirmed or revised in the following quarter.

Quarterly, exept for the sub-index „Other services related to ownership of dwellings” for which data is collected annually.

Data are collected from administrative datasources, by questionnaires or via Internet.

The overall OOHPI and the sub-indices are calculated using a chained-linked Laspeyres formula.                                  

 • O.1.1.1.1. Purchases of new dwellings:

The “Purchases of new dwellings” indeices are calculated using stratisfication combined with hedonic method. Stratification is based on geographical area (defined at district level) and dwelling type categories. Dwellings are categorized by type of a dwelling (flats, houses).

The quarterly compilation of this sub-index involves the following basic steps:

• Identification of individual residential transactions;

• Calculation of the price per square meter for each residential property;

• Estimation of the hedonic regression models and derivation of the price change for each strata;

• Aggregation to the upper levels using Lasspeyres formula and calculation of the overall index for new dwellings.

In the regression model the dependant variable is a logarithm of the price, the regression factors are: locality, property’s area, land area, type of dwelling and type of settlement (“district’s main city”, “towns and rural”, “resorts”).

Hedonic function is estimated in the beginning of each year (t), through a regression model that uses the data of the previous year (t-1): estimated regression coefficients are kept constant for the whole reference year (t).

A model is estimated for 28 districts of the country and for 6 big cities with population above 120000 inhabitants in order to guarantee a minimum amount of observations in each stratum.

The general aggregate index is calculated as a weighted arithmetic average of elementary indices where the weights in year (t) reflect the average annual value of dwellings transaction calculated from the preceding three years (t-3), (t-2) and (t-1) and price updated to 4^th quarter of year (t-1).

• O.1.1.3. Other services related to the acquisition of dwellings:

Stratification method is applied for compilation of sub-indices for ‘Notary deeds’ and ‘Municipality (local) fees’.

For compilation of ‘Notary deeds’ index five categories are defined according the amount of the material interest and for each category a 'pure' fixed and proportional taxes are determined. For each transaction, the notary fee is additionally calculated. Next, the average notary fee for each of the observed categories are obtained and base indices are calculated at elementary level. The overall index is Laspeyres type index of the weighted categories’ sub-indices.

For compilation of ‘Municipality (local) fees’ index, data are divided into 28 stratums based on geographical location (by districts). Base indices are compiled for each of the 28 districts by adjusting the rate of the municipality tax with the regional House price indices (HPI) to reflect the price evolution of the total expenditure of the dwellings. Next, elementary level sub-indices are aggregated to the total index for the whole country using Laspeyres type formula.

The index for ‘Real estate fees’ is based on an average rate of the real estates’ commissions based on results from the survey on real estate fees for the 28 districts in the country. The overall average rate for the country is adjusted with the total HPI (for new and existing dwellings) according the OOH manual.

‘Registry Agency fees’ represent the fees that a purchaser has to pay in Registry agency when the transaction is registered. The tax is available in the PR for each individual transaction. Average tax rate is calculated from the transactions for each of the 28 districts in the country and the estimated rates are adjusted with the regional HPIs according the OOH manual.

• O.1.2.1. Major repairs and maintenance:

The technique for calculating the overall price index for major repairs and improvements for dwellings consists of several stages/steps:

•          Calculation of the total prices by types of works, as the sum of the price of materials and labour costs;

•          Calculation of the elementary price indices of materials, costs of works and total index at the base of the third quarter of 2012;

•          Calculation of geometric mean sub-indices;

•          Total index calculated as a sum of weighted sub-indices.

• O.1.2.2. Insurance connected with dwelling

Untill end of 2021 the stratification approach was applied and the insurance policies of the insurance companies were divided into 4 strata according to the earthquake zones. For each insurance company the average price of four zones was calculated and the overall price index per company. Quarterly total index for insurance companies was aggregated, weighted with net paid premiums, published by Financial Supervision Commission in year (t-2).

• O.1.2.3. Other services related to ownership of dwellings:

Index for the residential property taxes comprises data for different type of properties and for all 28 district centers of the country. Property tax is derived by a flat rate (in thousands) applied to the tax valuation of a property, for each individual dwelling and is defined each year by local tax authority according the Local Taxes and Fees Act.

 OOH Weights

OOH weights are updated each year and OOH weights for index calculation in year (t) reflect the average annual value of households’ expenditures calculated from the preceding three years: (t-3), (t-2) and (t-1), price updated to the fourth quarter of (t-1).

Each year OOHPI are calculated using fourth quarter of the previous year=100 as base period and are rebased to 2015=100 using the chain linked method.