Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT)

Business  Statistics Division (B3)

Manufacture - Construction Indices and Industrial Products Section (B33)

Pireos 46 & Eponiton Str. 18510 - Piraeus

The survey data are collected through the Monthly Statistical Questionnaires on Building Activity which are to be filled in by civil engineers through an electronic platform (e-adeies) that has been launched by the Technical Chamber of Greece since 15/10/2018 for the electronic issuance of building permits under the supervisor of the Ministry of Environment and Energy. The competent Urban Planning Authorities of Greece have the responsibility of the control and the final issuance of the building permits. The coverage of the building activity is exhaustive (100%). The collected data include information on all the building permits issued for the construction of a new building, a building addition, repair or renovation, etc. The purpose of the survey is to depict the future development of building activity. The data are presented by Region (NUTS 2) and at the level of Greece total. The survey produces results on a monthly basis. Data are presented in the form of absolute values and growth rates. Each month, unadjusted series, calendar adjusted series and seasonally adjusted series are calculated.

The geographical classification is based on Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics.

The types of construction works are classified in accordance with the Classification of products by activity (CPA) of EU (pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 451/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council), at 6-digit level.

All types of building constructions under the codes 41.00.1 and 41.00.2 of the Classification of products by activity (CPA) are covered. All size classes are covered. The recorded data refer to the total number of building permits, of any type and value, issued during the time period stipulated in the questionnaire.

The building permits issued by the Urban Planning Offices of Greece, on the basis of the Statistical Questionnaires on Building Activity.

Total of building permits, building volume, surface and value of the permit.

Number of dwellings: CPA codes (new residential buildings only)

Square meters of useful floor: CPA codes (new residential and non-residential buildings only)

Region (NUTS 2) and Greece total.

Since 1961.

Not relevant.

Number of permits (absolute number), total surface (m²), volume (m³), value (euro) and percentage change.

Month.

The legal framework concerning the organization and operation of ELSTAT is as follows:

• Greek Statistical Law No 3832/2010, as in force
• Regulation on the Operation and Administration of the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), 2012 (Government Gazette 2390 B, 28.08.2012)
• Regulation on the Statistical Obligations of the agencies of the Hellenic Statistical System (Government Gazette 4083 Β, 20.12.2016)
• Greek Commitment on Confidence in Statistics (Government Gazette 40 A, 29.02.2012)
• More information
• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2015/759
• European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP) - revised edition 2017
• More information
• REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation - GDPR)
• Presidential Decree 73/2019 (Government Gazette No 114, Issue Α,04.07.2019): “Organization of the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT)” (Available only in Greek)
• Law 4624/2019 (Government Gazette Α΄137 / 29.08.2019) “ Hellenic Data Protection Authority, measures implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 for the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and transposition (into national law) Directive (EU) 2016/680 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 and other provisions " (Available only in Greek)

The Legal Framework is detailed in the following link:

 http://www.statistics.gr/en/legal-framework

 At European level:

The legal basis for the STS indices and for Building Permits, in particular, is Council Regulation No 1165/98 of 19 May 1998 concerning short-term statistics (STS-R) as amended by the Regulation (EC) No 1158/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2005 concerning short-term statistics and Regulation (EU) No 2152/2019 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics, as well as Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2020/1197 laying down specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 2152/2019.

The definitions of short-term statistics variables are laid down in Commission Regulation No 1503/2006 of September 2006 implementing and amending Council Regulation No 1165/98 of 19 May 1998 concerning short-term statistics and in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2020/1197laying down technical specifications and arrangements.

The results of the survey on building activity are also disseminated to the UN.

The issues concerning the observance of statistical confidentiality by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) are arranged by articles 7, 8 and 9 of the Law 3832/2010 as in force, by Articles 8, 10 and 11(2) of the Regulation on Statistical Obligations of the agencies of the Hellenic Statistical System and by Articles 10 and 15 of the Regulation on the Operation and Administration of ELSTAT.

More precisely:

ELSTAT disseminates the statistics in compliance with the statistical principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice and in particular with the principle of statistical confidentiality.

https://www.statistics.gr/en/statistical-confidentiality?inheritRedirect=true

ELSTAT protects and does not disseminate data it has obtained or it has access to, which enable the direct or indirect identification of the statistical units that have provided them by the disclosure of individual information directly received for statistical purposes or indirectly supplied from administrative or other sources. ELSTAT takes all appropriate preventive measures so as to render impossible the identification of individual statistical units by technical or other means that might reasonably be used by a third party. Statistical data that could potentially enable the identification of the statistical unit are disseminated by ELSTAT if and only if:

a)    these data have been treated, as it is specifically set out in the Regulation on Statistical Obligations of the agencies of the Hellenic Statistical System (ELSS), in such a way that their dissemination does not prejudice statistical confidentiality or
b)    the statistical unit has given its consent, without any reservations, for the disclosure of data.

The confidential data that are transmitted by ELSS agencies to ELSTAT are used exclusively for statistical purposes and the only persons who have the right to have access to these data are the personnel engaged in this task and appointed by an act of the President of ELSTAT.

ELSTAT may grant researchers conducting statistical analyses for scientific purposes access to data that enable the indirect identification of the statistical units concerned. The access is granted provided the following conditions are satisfied:

a)    an appropriate request together with a detailed research proposal in conformity with current scientific standards have been submitted;

b)    the research proposal indicates in sufficient detail the set of data to be accessed, the methods of analyzing them, and the time needed for the research;

c)    a contract specifying the conditions for access, the obligations of the researchers, the measures for respecting the confidentiality of statistical data and the sanctions in case of breach of these obligations has been signed by the individual researcher, by his/her institution, or by the organization commissioning the research, as the case may be, and by ELSTAT.

Issues referring to the observance of statistical confidentiality are examined by the Statistical Confidentiality Committee (SCC) operating in ELSTAT. The responsibilities of this Committee are to make recommendations to the President of ELSTAT on:

•    the level of detail at which statistical data can be disseminated, so as the identification, either directly or indirectly, of the surveyed statistical unit is not possible;

•    the anonymization criteria for the microdata provided to users;

•    the granting to researchers access to confidential data for scientific purposes.

The staff of ELSTAT, under any employment status, as well as the temporary survey workers who are employed for the collection of statistical data in statistical surveys conducted by ELSTAT, who acquire access by any means to confidential data, are bound by the principle of confidentiality and must use these data exclusively for the statistical purposes of ELSTAT. After the termination of their term of office, they are not allowed to use these data for any purpose.

Violation of data confidentiality and/or statistical confidentiality by any civil servant or employee of ELSTAT constitutes the disciplinary offence of violation of duty and may be punished with the penalty of final dismissal.

ELSTAT, by its decision, may impose a penalty amounting from ten thousand (10,000) up to two hundred thousand (200,000) euros to anyone who violates the confidentiality of data and/or statistical confidentiality. The penalty is always imposed after the hearing of the defense of the person liable for the breach, depending on the gravity and the repercussions of the violation. Any relapse constitutes an aggravating factor for the assessment of the administrative sanction.

Each year ELSTAT publishes a release calendar with the precise release dates of statistics for the following year.

The calendar is distributed to the press and is available to all interested parties free of charge.

This calendar is also posted on the website of the ELSTAT (http://www.statistics.gr/en/calendar) under the title: “Release Calendar”.

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice, ELSTAT disseminates national statistics on ELSTAT’s website respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably.

In this content, data are released simultaneously to all interested parties and users through the Announcement on the Production Index in Construction, which is posted on the website of ELSTAT (http://www.statistics.gr/en/home/) according to the release calendar. This announcement is also available by e-mail to all interested parties. In addition, data are transmitted to Eurostat on a predefined date, concomitantly with their national publication.

Neither users nor the government have access to the data prior to their publication.

Monthly and yearly (aggregate tables).

The announcement which is published every month includes information on the number of issued building permits, building volume and surface. The announcement is published in Greek and in English approximately three months after the end of the reference month and is being disseminated to the press, free of charge, and to other interested users by mail. The announcement is also available on the website of ELSTAT:

More detailed monthly data on dwellings and stores by type of use and volume, surface and value are available on the website of ELSTAT :

(http://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/publication/SOP03/-)

The data on building activity are published in the following paper publications:

• “Greece in Figures” which presents annually the number of building permits, surface and volume for the last three years for Greece total at the level of regions.
• “The Greek Economy” where year-on-year growth rates (y-o-y) for the reference month are published for the number of building permits, surface and volume.

Moreover, data on building activity are published in the following e-publications:

• Greece in Figures (http://www.statistics.gr/en/greece-in-figures)

The Greek Economy (http://www.statistics.gr/en/the-greek-economy)

1)    Detailed monthly data on dwellings and stores by type of use and volume, surface and value are available on the website of ELSTAT (at Statistical Themes) at the link:

http://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/publication/SOP03/-)

2)    UNITED NATIONS / Monthly Bulletin of Statistics Online

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mbs/app/DataSearchTable.aspx

10.3.1 Data tables - consultations

Users’ consultation as regards the survey on Building Activity amounts to 109,019 webpage’s hits for 2022. There is no potentiality to distinct consultations between data tables and metadata.

Micro-data are made available to users after submitting a request to the:

Statistical Information and Publications Division

46, Pireos & Eponiton Str, PO Box 80847

18510 Piraeus

Tel: +30 213 135 2022

e-mail: data.dissem@statistics.gr

For confidential reasons, access to micro-data is granted to users only under strict conditions and by always adhering to the relevant procedure. More information is available in the following link: https://www.statistics.gr/en/other_anonymized_provision_data .

Users can have access to ELSTAT publications, even for previous years, where they can find data on Building Activity,  which are posted on the digital library of ELSTAT, through http://dlib.statistics.gr/portal/page/portal/ESYE/

Data are sent to EUROSTAT and published in Eurostat online database  

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main/data/database

The Building activity data are posted on the website of ELSTAT, at the link:

http://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/publication/SOP03/-

Users can be given data or further analysis, usually by e-mail after submitting a request, describing the requested data, at the following link: http://www.statistics.gr/en/statistical-data-request

Users can also contact the Data Dissemination Section, at the following e-mail address:

data.dissem@statistics.gr and data.supply@statistics.gr.

The methodology on the variable is laid down by ELSTAT, taking into consideration international practices and more specifically the guidelines and standards of Eurostat. The manual  Methodology on Short-Term Business Statistics, Interpretation and guidelines, 2006 includes a comprehensive set of instructions on the compilation of short-term statistics. It is available at the link:

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/short-term-business-statistics/methodology

A Single Metadata Structure (SIMS) report is available at the link:

http://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/publication/SOP03/-

Quality checks and data validation take place during all the stages of data collection and quality is also ensured through the Quality Policy implemented by ELSTAT, which is available at the following link:

http://www.statistics.gr/en/policies

Well trained and experienced ELSTAT staff is involved in data collection and primary checks, data entry and final checks, in order to identify and duly correct any errors.

Data are checked in terms of completeness, accuracy and consistency.

In case an unreasonable big value is identified, the data are further investigated, in cooperation with the Urban Planning Authorities and civil engineers and through the electronic platform for the issuance of building permits (e-adeies) in order to confirm that it is a mistake or an unusual value. Data processing and data validation are conducted either before or after data entry.

The monthly data are compared with the data of the corresponding month of the previous year and if any inconsistencies are identified, further checks are conducted.

Quality is considered satisfactory due to the continuous checks and due to the 100% coverage of the survey ensured by the Urban Planning Offices.

United Nations (UN), the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), National Statistical Authorities, States services and institutes (Ministries, Banks, universities, research institutes, etc.), the press, enterprises and the general public.

ELSTAT conducts a user satisfaction survey every six months. Comments on media are also positive. More information about the results of the survey is available at the following link:

http://www.statistics.gr/en/user-satisfaction-survey

Furthermore, ELSTAT organises a Users Conference, on an annual basis, in which representatives of private and public sector, educational and research institutions participate. The conferences provide a significant opportunity for ELSTAT to collect comments and suggestions from users relative to the dissemination and the accessibility of the statistical data and the gaps in the production of statistics. The users conferences help significantly ELSTAT to draw useful conclusions on the areas where the statistical products and services can be improved in order to meet the increasing users needs. These conclusions are incorporated in the annual and medium term statistical programs of ELSTAT. The most recent Users Conference was held in 20 December 2022. More information on the conference is available at the link:

https://www.statistics.gr/en/user-conference-2022

The survey on Building Activity covers all the variables that are set out in EU Regulation, with an 100% coverage of data by the Urban Planning Offices, through the monthly statistical questionnaires on building activity which are filled in by the competent civil engineers.

Satisfactory, because the survey is a census survey.

No applicable because it is a census survey.

Final results are available approximately three months after the end of the reference month.

Data are published according to the pre-announced release calendar

The STS Regulations and the STS methodological guidelines are applied for the compilation of data, thus ensuring a good comparability between the Greek data and the other national and European data, taking always into account the special conditions prevailing in each country, which may dictate minor methodological deviations.
Moreover, ELSTAT implements common methodology and data collection method for all the Urban Planning Offices, thus ensuring geographical comparability across the country.

The survey data are fully comparable over time.

Regular crosschecks are made with information from the other surveys.

Comparison of the data with the results from the Annual Construction Survey (SBS) takes place upon availability of the annual results. In addition, data are regularly crosschecked with other data, such as Production Index in Construction. Any differences are checked and justified.

   Coherence – sub annual and annual statistics

Coherence with Production Index in Construction (IPC)

The data of the Building Activity Survey (Private – Public) cannot be directly compared with the data of the survey of IPC. This is because the Building Activity Survey is based on Administrative Sources (Urban Planning Authorities) and the collected data refer to all issued building permits (new buildings, additions, repairs or renovations etc) and not to the completed buildings. Thus the purpose of this survey is to depict the future development of building activity. On the contrary, the IPC data are obtained through direct survey to construction companies and refer to the realized activity in construction (both building construction and civil engineering works).

Coherence – Annual Construction Survey

Any differences observed in the growth rates between the Building Activity data and the turnover of SBS are mostly due to the fact that the purpose of this survey depict the future development of building activity where as SBS covers the realized activity in construction (both building construction and civil engineering works).

 Coherence – National Accounts

The data of the building Activity Survey generally follows the development in the Section F of Annual National Accounts, because the compilation of National Accounts is based on data for building permits and public investment.

The statistics on Building Activity are internally coherent, as they are based on common data collection and processing methodology. Moreover, the annual data are comparable with the monthly ones because they derive from aggregation of the corresponding monthly data.

According to the results of the Cost Assessment Survey covering the production of statistics in the ESS for the year 2020 launch by Eurostat and carried out by ELSTAT, it can be concluded that, regarding the staff of ELSTAT engaged in the compilation of data, the annual cost in hours worked amount to 8,794. The response burden is not estimated.

The general revision policy adopted for ELSTAT, which is also applied to building permits, is available at the link:

http://www.statistics.gr/en/policies.

More specifically, the purpose of the survey on Building Activity is the collection of building permits data from the competent Urban Planning Authorities of Greece (coverage 100%). The unadjusted data on the number of issued building permits, building volume and surface are included in the national announcement on a monthly basis, approximately 90 days after the end of the reference month, according to the national release calendar and they are characterized as final. The unadjusted data, along with the calendar and seasonally adjusted data are also transmitted to Eurostat, according to the calendar of data transmission to Eurostat. The seasonally adjusted data are characterized as provisional and are revised each month with the addition of the new observations in the time series.

Major revisions do not occur normally for building permits because the data are not presented in the form of indices but as absolute number (number of permits, total surface (m²), volume (m³), value (euro)).

Non-scheduled revisions may occur as a result of unforeseeable events such as errors. They are not announced in advance by definition. The users are promptly informed on significant errors identified in published statistics. The revised results are released without any delay in an open and transparent manner. The reasons for carrying out the non-scheduled revisions are also published. Non-scheduled revisions are accompanied by relevant documentation, as well as by updated back data if available.

Benchmarking is carried out only for calendar and seasonally adjusted data, in order to ensure consistency with the unadjusted data.

Vintage databases are not available.

The same revision policy for all kind of revisions, if they exist, is applied to data released nationally and to those transmitted to Eurostat, in order to assure coherence.

Generally, in case of revisions, the Revision Policy of ELSTAT is implemented.

Major revisions do not occur normally for building permits because the data are not presented in the form of indices but as absolute number (number of permits, total surface (m²), volume (m³), value (euro)).

The unadjusted and calendar adjusted data are characterized as final in their first release. The seasonally and calendar adjusted data are characterized as final in their first release. The seasonally adjusted data are characterized as provisional and are revised every month with the addition of the new observations in the time series.

Benchmarking is carried out only for calendar and seasonally adjusted data, in order to ensure consistency with the unadjusted data.

Revoked building permits are not taken into account.

Quality and Performance Indicators (QPIs) are not calculated, as the unadjusted and calendar  adjusted data transmitted to Eurostat are final and are not normally revised. For the seasonally adjusted data, QPIs are not calculated, due to lack of adequate number of reference periods needed for the calculations, since the series were seasonally adjusted for the first time in 2021.

Statistical survey in cooperation with the local administrative sources (Urban Planning offices) through the electronic platform e-adeies that has been launched by the Technical Chamber of Greece since 15/10/2018 for the electronic issuance of building permits under the supervision of the Ministry of Environment and Energy.

Data are collected on a monthly basis.

The data are collected by sending the questionnaires, by post, to the local administrative sources (Urban Planning offices.)

The data are validated through logical checks. During the processing of data any errors that had been identified are duly corrected. Special emphasis is put on the errors that can have a major impact on the results. Once identified, the errors are further investigated in cooperation with the Urban Planning Offices and the competent civil engineers, so as to confirm that in order to confirm that it is a mistake or an unusual value. Data are checked for consistency, accuracy and completeness. Data processing and data validation are conducted either before or after data entry.

The monthly data are compared with the data of the corresponding months of the previous years and if any major discrepancies are identified, further checks are conducted.

The data, after having been validated, undergo the necessary logical checks they are imported in the electronic database; they are tabulated and finally published.

The survey covers 100% of the building permits issued by the Urban Planning Offices of Greece. No values are imputed; therefore imputation rate is 0%.

Data are released in unadjusted, calendar adjusted and seasonally adjusted form.

The method used is the TRAMO-SEATS method with the use of JDemetra+ 2.0.0.

Calendar and seasonally adjusted series are estimated for all series for residencies for communities (41.00.14) because no significant effect is found for this series. For the calendar and seasonal adjustment of the series 41.00.11, 41.00.12+41.00.13, 41.00.2341.00.2 without 41.00.23, the direct approach is applied, namely each time-series is adjusted independently. For the series 41.00.1, 41.00.0 without 41.00.14, 41.00.2, the indirect approach is applied, with the calendar and seasonally adjusted series being computed by aggregating the relevant adjusted series. Outliers (additive outliers, temporary changes, level shift, seasonal outliers) are automatically and manually fixed, according to the critical values for the outlier detection. Each series of the data set follows a log-additive decomposition model. Benchmarking techniques are applied, in order to ensure consistency with the unadjusted series.

The whole series with seasonally adjusted indices is recalculated every time a new observation is added in the time-series. Adjustment models are completely reviewed once a year.

Calendar and seasonally adjusted data are available for number of dwellings from January 2000 onwards and for square metres from January 2001 onwards.

None