Statistical Service of Cyprus (Cystat)

Construction Statistics Unit

Michael Karaoli str., 1444 Nicosia, Cyprus

Construction cost index

Coverage is determined by NACE Rev. 2 classification. The split to construction products is based on CC classification (Classification of Types of Construction). 

The indicator cover the economic activities listed in section F of NACE (Construction). The variables collected for the production of this index are the material prices for residential buildings, hourly labour costs and fuel prices.

There are no discrepancies with the definition of variables laid down in the  Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197.

The objective of the construction cost index is to show the development of costs incurred by the contractor to carry out the construction process. The construction cost index (material and labour costs are not required as separate indices since 2021) shows the price developments of production factors used in the construction industry.

Enterprise.

Enterprises classified in NACE Rev. 2 Section F.

Republic of Cyprus

Data are available as from 1998.

Base year 2015

Index (2015=100)

Quarter.

Article 3 of the national Official Statistics Law, No. 25(I) of 2021 defines the functions of the Statistical Service of Cyprus regarding the production and dissemination of official statistics. Moreover, Article 13, explicitly stipulates the mandate for data collection and introduces a mandatory response to statistical enquiries by stipulating the obligation of respondents to reply to surveys and provide the data required. This relates not only to national but also to European statistics which, by virtue of Article 8 of the said Law, are incorporated in the annual and multiannual programmes of work without any further procedure. Link to the Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1074  

The legal basis for the short-term statistics is the European Business Statistics (EBS) Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on 27 November 2019, followed by the Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to the mentioned EBS Regulation (General Implementing Act). The former legal basis for the STS indicators is the Council Regulation No 1165/98 of 19 May 1998 concerning short-term statistics and subsequent amending regulations.

Apart from Eurostat, the index is not transmitted to any other international organisation.

Official statistics are released in accordance to all confidentiality provisions of the following:

• National Official Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021 (especially Article 16 on statistical confidentiality).
• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and its later amendments (especially Chapter 5 on statistical confidentiality).
• European Statistics Code of Practice (especially Principle 5 on statistical confidentiality).
• CYSTAT's Code of Practice for the Collection, Publication and Storage of Statistical Data.

Links to all of the above documents:

• Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021: 

https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1074  

• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (consolidated text):

 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02009R0223-20150608&qid=1504858409240&from=EN

• European Statistics Code of Practice:

 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-32-11-955

• Code of Practice for the Collection, Publication and Storage of Statistical Data: 

https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1066

No data is considered confidential at the level published. The treatment of confidential data is regulated by CYSTAT's Code of Practice for the Collection, Publication and Storage of Statistical Data.  

The link is as follows: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1066

An annual release calendar is prepared and forwarded to Eurostat. The Construction cost index is transmitted to Eurostat according to the established Release Calendar. At national level, a release calendar with preliminary dates for the next four months is published at the new web portal of the Statistical Service of Cyprus. Announcements are confirmed on the Friday preceding their release. Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on CYSTAT’s web portal. The annual release calendar, announced during the 4th quarter of the year, includes provisional dates of publication for the following year, which are finalised the week before publication.

The release calendar published at national level can be found at: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/AnnouncementList

As provided in article 4(1) of the Official Statistics Law (Law No. 25(I)/2021) regarding the principle of impartiality, statistics are disseminated in such a way that all users have equal and simultaneous access to the data. Also, according to the Dissemination and Pricing Policy of the Statistical Service of Cyprus (section 2.3) CYSTAT΄s main channel for dissemination of statistics is the website, which offers the same conditions to everyone and is updated at the same time every working day (12:00 noon). Privileged pre-released access (of no more than 1 day in advance) has been granted to a few selected users for specific statistics. These are specified in the Dissemination Policy (section 2.3).

In addition to the annual release calendar, users are informed of the various statistical releases through the “Alert” service provided by CYSTAT.

Link to the Dissemination and Pricing Policy of the Statistical Service of Cyprus can be found at: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1064.

Quarterly.

Not applicable since the index is not disseminated nationally.

The index was published in the annual publication “Construction and Housing Statistics” and covered all types of construction works. Now the index is not disseminated nationally.

CYSTAT-DB is the online database of the Statistical Service of Cyprus. It gives users the ability to produce the desired table, to format the presentation, to edit and make calculations and to save it in any form available. Additionally, requests can be saved and used at a later stage to get the updated table with the latest available statistics. It is an interactive tool, providing the possibility to create customized tables for several statistics. CYSTAT-DB can be accessed from the home page or alternatively from the pages of statistical sub-themes.

Data on construction costs are not available in the CYSTAT-DB Online Database, since it is produced only for Eurostat.

Not applicable, there is no microdata access to outside users.

The index is not disseminated nationally.

Not available.

Not available.

The quality of statistics in CYSTAT is managed in the framework of the European Statistics Code of Practice which sets the standards for developing, producing and disseminating European Statistics as well as the ESS Quality Assurance Framework (QAF). CYSTAT endorses the Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System. In addition, CYSTAT is guided by the requirements provided for in Article 11 of the Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021 as well as Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics, which sets out the quality criteria to be applied in the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.

Links to all of the above documents:

• European Statistics Code of Practice:

 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-32-11-955

• ESS Quality Assurance Framework (QAF): 

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/64157/4392716/ESS-QAF-V1-2final.pdf/bbf5970c-1adf-46c8-afc3-58ce177a0646

• Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System: 

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/4031688/8188985/KS0217428ENN_corr.pdf/116f7c85-cd3e-4bff-b695-4a8e71385fd4

• Statistics Law No. 25(I) of 2021: 

https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1074

• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (consolidated text):

 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02009R0223-20150608&qid=1504858409240&from=EN

The quality of statistics is assessed according to the following quality criteria: relevance, accuracy, timeliness, punctuality, accessibility and clarity, coherence and comparability. The quality indicators are assessed taking into account Eurostat defined methodology and recommendations. On the basis of the above criteria, the indicator is assessed as being of good quality.

Eurostat, media, researchers, enterprises, industrial federations, trade unions, national accounts.

A user satisfaction survey is carried out on an annual basis since 2008 (with the exception of 2010, 2013 and 2020) but is not specific to short-term indicators. It does not allow for adequate conclusions to be made on this specific indicator. The results of the surveys are available on the new web portal of the Statistical Service at the link attached below. Overall, there is a high level of satisfaction of the users of statistical data published by CYSTAT.

The results of Cystat's user satisfaction surveys can be found at:https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/StaticPage?id=1144

The data are transmitted to Eurostat at the level of detail required by the EBS Regulation.

The accuracy of the index is assessed as satisfactory. It appears to follow the trends of the Output Prices in Construction for residential buildings.

No estimate of the sampling error is calculated.

No sources of bias has been identified.

The index is transmitted to Eurostat within the deadlines provided by the Regulation.

Eurostat's deadlines are respected, based on the scheduled release dates.

The EBS Regulation and the EBS methodological guidelines are applied. This ensures a good comparability between national data.

Data are comparable over time. When significant changes are introduced (e.g. base year, methodology), historical time series are recalculated as far back as it is reasonably possible. There are no breaks in series.

The index is compared with the trends of the output prices of the construction index and so far seem to be well in line. 

Not applicable.

No cost and burden exercise has been recently performed.

There is a formal revision policy at Cystat. Cystat publishes its Revision Policy on its web portal Revision Policy (cystat.gov.cy) describing the general rules and principles governing the procedure of revising data published by Cystat. The policy is based on the guidelines of the European Statistical System (ESS) regarding revision policies for Principal European Economic Indicators, also taking into account the Quality Assurance Framework of the ESS and the European Statistics Code of Practice. 

CYSTAT also publishes a list of scheduled revisions (regular or major revisions), also published on its web portal at: https://www.cystat.gov.cy/en/AnnouncementList.

Furthermore, CYSTAT has set its strategic goal to provide high-quality statistical information in an objective, transparent, reliable and timely manner. CYSTAT consider quality to be its main advantage in a world experiencing a growing trend of instant information which often lacks the necessary proof of quality. In order to realise strategic goals it is imperative to establish policies which ensure that an organisation is moving towards the right direction. For this reason, CYSTAT establishes the "Quality Policy" which forms the basis of all statistical activities and leads towards continuous improvement of its statistical output.

The same practice is applied both to data released nationally and to data transmitted to Eurostat; when revised data are transmitted to Eurostat, these are flagged accordingly and accompanied by the necessary explanations. The Construction Cost index is not disseminated nationally.

Routine revisions are carried out by Cystat in order to improve disseminated provisional figures in a way that important information is published as promptly as possible and the number of such revisions is kept to the minimum over a given period of time. Major revisions are backwards implemented for the complete time-series or up to the point where it is feasible and are coordinated across statistical domains. Major revisions are well documented and made public, with an explanation of the reasons for the revision.

When published statistical data are provisional, this is indicated both in the text and the relevant tables. When revised data are disseminated by Cystat, they are appropriately flagged both in the text and the relevant tables and are accompanied by explanatory notes, if needed.

Data revisions on the construction cost index are rarely performed, but if needed, these are carried out while releasing the data for the following quarter. When revised data are transmitted to Eurostat, these are flagged accordingly and accompanied by the necessary explanations.

The objective of the construction cost index is to show the development of costs incurred by the contractor to carry out the construction process. The cost indices are mandatory for new residential buildings (excluding residencies for communities). The sources are the materials prices index for residential buildings, the labour costs index and an index for fuel (energy component) derived from CPI prices, excl. VAT.

Quarterly.

The variables collected for the production of the construction cost index are the material prices for residential buildings, hourly labour costs and fuel prices. 

The price index of construction materials is a sample survey and is based on an extensive list of the main construction materials. The variable collected in the survey is the transaction price, excl. VAT, on the 15th day of the reference month. The precise product specifications are agreed in advance with the respondents. The survey is carried out by telephone interview, fax and e-mail. Close cooperation and telephone contacts with the data providers are performed in order to ensure high quality of the data. Re-contacts by e-mail and phone as many times as necessary increase the rate of response. For the price index of construction materials the response rate is 100%. Besides the usual updating due to the change of base year, the sample is also updated every time a new product is introduced due to user demand. There are around 150 respondents providing more than 500 prices for more than 100 products that are allocated into 50 product sud-groups used as material inputs by the construction.

The index that is produced is disseminated nationally and covers all types of construction works, whereas the index transmitted and published by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) is limited to new residential buildings, excluding residencies for communities. 

Standard MS Office professional software (MS Excel) is used for the compilation of the index. The data is checked when it arrives before any further actions. Plausibility checks are made, for instance on the number of observations and range of variable values. Particular attention is given to outlier observations.

The index is a linear combination of the price index of construction materials for residential buildings, the hourly labour cost index in construction and the index for fuels. The production expenses from the 2015 annual SBS Construction survey are used as weights.

No adjustments. 

No additional comments.