Statistics Belgium - STATBEL

Economic statistics

Directorate General Statistics - Statistics Belgium

North Gate - Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 16 - 1000 Brussels

Output price index in construction.

CPA Rev. 2, section F. Two types of dwellings are followed:

• One-dwelling buildings  (CC 111)
• Two- and more dwelling buildings (CC 112)

Activities covered : Section F of Nace rev.2, divisions 41 and 43

Size classes covered all.

List and definition of variables: a quarterly index of the producer price in the construction sector.

Planned changes in information collected: none.
Accounting conventions: none.

Reporting unit : enterprise (legal unit).

Observation unit(s) : enterprise (legal unit).

Belgian enterprises with principal activities in section F.

All belgian regions.

Date of first use as a source: 2005.

Base (reference) year: 2015

Indices, percentage changes (%).

2015

Untll 2022: EU regulations concerning the collection, treatment and dissemination of statistical data are the Council Regulation (EC) No. 1165/98 of 19 May 1998 concerning short-term statistics with implementing acts (e.g. Commission Regulation No 1503/2006 of 28 September 2006 concerning the definitions).

From 2022 onwards: Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics of 27 November 2019, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics (EBS-Regulation) as well as the Federal Statistics Act (1987)

Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistic (General Implementing Act).

These EU regulations ae completed by the Belgian Royal decree (03/07/2012) about short-term prices survey.

Obligation on units to provide data: yes.

Planned changes in legal basis, obligation to respond and frame used : none.

None.

Dissemination of terms and conditions under which official statistics are produced, including confidentiality of individual responses: not applicable since a global index is published.      

Treatment of confidential data : not applicable since only a global index is published

Advance dissemination of release calendar : release calendar available on https://statbel.fgov.be/en/calendar

https://statbel.fgov.be/fr/calendar

Simultaneous release to all interested parties : figures are sent to Eurostat and simultaneously are published on our website.

Identification of internal government access to data before release: none.

Transmission to Eurostat and further use of the statistics:  figures are sent to Eurostat and simultaneously are published on our website. The transmission is done via Edamis in SDMX format.

Quarterly.

Identification of ministerial commentary on the occasion of statistical releases: no ministerial commentary.

Name of national paper publications: not applicable.

Name of national electronic dissemination: Statbel.

https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/indicators/prices/construction-output-price-index

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Dissemination of documentation on methodology and sources used in preparing statistics: Metadata are available on https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/indicators/prices/construction-output-price-index#documents

Not yet available for the general public, only internally.

Data collection and production system are optimized (websurvey in XBRL, procedures to identify doubtful prices variations, …).

The final index is validated by our validation service before diffusion.

Checks are carried out during the production process (e.g. large price evolution are examined, application implicit quality adjustments if deemed necessary, … ).

Belgian National Bank, Eurostat, professional and trade federations, companies.

No existing measure of user satisfaction but no complaints either.

Compliant with all STS requirements.

In principle, a cutt-of sample is used in two stages: at enterprise level and product level. But collection difficulties due to transfer prices, unique products, etc. influence this method.

Statistical accuracy is inherently more difficult to assess for price indexes than other statistics due to the complex nature of evolution of average price changes and statistical problems in estimating of data that is not covered by the sample (extrapolation).

Errors can occur in price collection and editing, or in making quality adjustments to estimate "pure price change".

This results in a small sampling error as well as a non-sampling error.

Sampling error is difficult to quantify because on both the statistical unit and product level the sampling is based on judgmental rather than probability sampling methods.

We improve the response rate with reminders via email or telephone.

Timeliness 3 months after the reference period.

Timetable of data collection: reporting units are contacted by websurvey during the first three weeks after the reference period, reminders are sent afterwards.

Delays are very rare.

No problem of geographical comparability, the index is estimated at a national level.

No problem of comparability over time.

Dissemination of information that support statistical cross-checks and provide assurance of reasonableness:

Not applicable.

Confrontation with other data sets:

Not applicable.

The index is internally coherent. Higher level aggregations are derived from detailed indices according to well-defined procedures.

Not available.

Only if important problem arises, revisions are made. Revision is not common policy.

The same revision policy is applied nationally and in transmissions to Eurostat.

Revisions and methodological changes are announced at the same time as they take place, if possible in advance of the change.

Data have not been revised during the period of reference (2020), MAR/MR=0.

Type of source: Statistical survey.

Frame on which the source is based: Business register.

Sample or census: sample.

Criteria for stratification: not relevant.

Frequency of updating the sample: at least every 5 years.

Quarterly.

Questionnaires used in the survey : XBRL websurvey.

Planned changes in national questionnaires none.

Data collection media: websurvey, phone.

Planned changes in data collection methodology none.

Intern validation

Estimates for non-response : not applicable.

Estimates for grossing-up to population levels : not applicable.

Type of index:

Chained Laspeyres index.

Method of weighting and chaining :

The weights are obtained from construction surveys.

Planned changes in production methods : none.

Bridged overlap as an implicit quality adjustment method.

Not available.