Target Audience
Mid- to senior-level officials and compilers responsible for, or planning on instigating or developing, Residential Property Price Indices (RPPI).
Qualifications
Participants should have a degree in economics, statistics, or equivalent experience.
Course Description
This course, presented by the IMF’s Statistics Department, provides an overview of data sources and methods for compiling RPPIs and outlines strategic issues for their development in a country-specific context. Emphasis is given to the importance of evaluating alternative data sources for compiling RPPIs in terms that include potential coverage, timeliness, richness in terms of supporting a quality-mix methodology, suitability of price measure, and weighting. The trade-offs involved in selecting data sources are considered as are strategies of longer-run development of data sources. The emphasis of the methodological component of the course is the quality-mix problem; the mix of properties transacted each period changes thus biasing measures of change in average prices. Hedonic regression and repeat sales are the main methods used for dealing with this issue. The course highlights how data source and methodological issues are inter-twined. The course follows the principles of the 2013 Eurostat, ILO, IMF, OECD, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and World Bank’s Handbook on RPPIs.
Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:
- Apply different methods for compiling RPPIs.
- Identify the strengths and weaknesses of potential data sources for RPPI compilation.
- Select the most appropriate method for RPPI compilation given the current availability of data.
- Make recommendations for the further development of data sources where necessary.