Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO)

Division Economy, Section Price

Swiss Federal Statistical Office
Prices
Espace de l'Europe 10
CH-2010 Neuchâtel

Construction output price index 

NACE Rev. 2.

See below in 3.3 the equivalences between Swiss classification and CC

Activities covered: The indices cover buildings and civil engineering works in NACE Rev. 2 Section F.

Size classes covered: None

The index is calculated for:

— total construction;
  — building
    — new building 
      — construction of administrative buildings (CC1220)
      — construction of multi-dwelling residential buildings (CC1122)
      — construction of multi-dwelling residential buildings of wood (CC1122)
      — constuction of one-dwelling buildings (CC 1110)
      — constuction of industrial halls (CC1251)
    — renovation
      — renovation of multi-dwelling residential buildings (CC1122)
      — renovation of administrative buildings (CC1220)
  — civil engineering
      — construction of road sections (CC2112)
      — construction of underpasses in reinforced concrete (CC2142)
      — construction of anti-noise walls 

      — road rehabilitation

The two indices for related to administrative buildings cover construction and renovation of  administrative buildings and offices (public and private sector).

The three indices related to multi-dwelling residential buildings cover construction and renovation in the public and private sector.
The index for construction of one-dwelling buildings covers almost exclusively the private sector.
The index for construction of industrial halls covers almost exclusively the private sector.

Planned changes in information collected: A revision is under way.

Accounting conventions: The reference period of the "April-Index" covers the months from January to June and the "October-Index" the months from July to December. For the first half-year respondents are asked to provide prices falling within the period from January to the end of April, and for the second semester between July and the end of October.

Reporting unit: Establishment (local unit).

Observation unit(s): Establishment (local unit).

The population count about 50'000 units and the sample about 4'000

Switzerland

From 1998

The current base period is October 2020 (for Eurostat data see below point 19).

Indices

Half a year

Federal Law on Statistics of 9 October 1992
Bundesstatistikgesetz (BstatG) vom 9. Oktober 1992
Loi fédérale du 9 octobre 1992 sur la statistique fédérale (LSF)
Ordinance of 30 June 1993 on the Implementation of Statistical Surveys
Verordnung vom 30. Juni 1993 über die Durchführung von statistischen Erhebungen des Bundes
Ordonnance du 30 juin 1993 concernant l'exécution des relevés statistiques fédéraux

Compulsory survey: fines can be given.

The data are only sent to Eurostat

The compilation and publication of the data are governed by the Federal Law on Statistics (10/9/92), the Ordinance on the Execution of Statistical Surveys (06/30/93) and the Federal Law on Data Protection (06/19/92). The Federal Law on Data Protection specifies that the Swiss Federal Statistical Office cannot publish, or otherwise make available to any individual or organisation, statistics that would enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity.
The Laws and Ordinance are published in German, French and Italian and copies can be obtained, for a fee, from BBL, CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland, Fax: (+41) 58 465 50 09, Internet: https://www.fedlex.admin.ch.

The indices for the large regions are not published if they are not based on data for at least three enterprises.

The date of the next press release is always on the Internet. The publication periods of the press release are the second half of June for the April index and the second half of December for the October index.

www.pco.bfs.admin.ch

The data are released simultaneously to all interested parties by the press release.

No internal government access prior to the release to the public.

Transmission to Eurostat of data of "residential buildings, except residences for communities" and "two and more dwelling buildings".

The survey is half-yearly. A linear interpolation is calculated for the quarterly value.

The aggregated indices (building, civil engineering and total construction) are published each half year in a press release.

The only commentary attached to the release of the data is provided by the FSO

The aggregated indices (building, civil engineering and total construction) are published on the Internet each half year simultaneously with the press release and then the detailed indices for the construction types are published.

The indices are published each half year for seven types of building construction and four types of civil engineering as well as for the aggregates of building, civil engineering and total construction. The indices are published for Switzerland as a whole and for each of the 7 large regions.

No.

No.

Quarterly estimates are sent to Eurostat.

A methodological manual exists (Schweizerischer Baupreisindex, Oktober 2020 = 100, Methodische Grundlagen / La statistique suisse des prix de la construction, Octobre 2020 = 100, Bases méthodologiques, Neuchâtel 2022) and is available on the Internet (for Eurostat data see below point 19).

Public documentation in these pages:

https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/preise/baupreise.assetdetail.21684890.html   

https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/preise/erhebungen/bap.html

FSO has a Quality Office and a Code of Practice (COP). The quality assurance is described in the metodological manuel (see above).

Quality is high. Results are compared with others indicators (benchmarking)

The data is used by the Swiss National Bank, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and many Federal Offices (for example Federal roads office, Federal office of transport, Swiss Federal Railways,…) as well as by a large number of Cantonal and Communal Offices of Buildings or Roads.

Eurostat receives quarterly estimates based on the data.

No statisfaction Survey.

Index starts in 1998. Data series are available from 2000. They are now rebased on 2020.

Not available (we don't use a random sample).

The used sample is not a random sample so statistical error cannot be calculated

Two electronic reminders (the second only for activities and large regions where the response rate is too low) as well as a telephone contact are carried out.

The response rate is nearly 45%.

Data are published approximately 2 months after the end of reference period. The data are final when first released and is not subject to revision. An interpolation is done for Eurostat between the two semestrial data calculated.

The questionnaires are sent two months before the months of April and October.

All the national publication dates are respected.

The CR 1503/2006 definitions are applied. The whole national territory is equally covered and results for the seven NUTS II regions are moreover calculated

There is no break in series between 1998 and today.

The results of comparison with costs indices are good.
GDP deflator of construction is based on the results of the construction output price index.

The internal coherence is assured.

Cost for the FSO is 4 full-time equivalent.

Burden for respondents is on average one person-hour per form.

The "no data revisions" policy is respected in practice.

Major methodological changes and revisions are announced in advance through a press release.

Type of source: Survey

Frame on which the source is based: The REE was used for the first stage of the sample; membership lists of employer's associations and telephone directories were used as a complementary source.

Sample or census: The collection of data is based on a sample for all of the indices for all types of construction. The first sample was a randomly drawn stratified sample. The subsequent updates have been done empirically as and when needed.

Criteria for stratification: For the first drawing of the sample the strata are constructed from large regions, and activities (according to NOGA). Establishments with less than 2 full time employees are excluded. Within each strata a random sample is drawn for each of two sub-strata based on the number of employees. Half of the sample (half of the predetermined sample size) is drawn by selecting the largest establishments; then the second half of the sample is drawn from among the remaining smaller units.

Frequency of updating the sample: Not available.

Data are collected twice a year for all types of indices.

Questionnaires used in the survey: Specific questionnaires are used for each type of work (corps de métier) and are sent for each round of data collection to a fixed sample.

Planned changes in national questionnaires: None except those related to changes in construction methods.

Data collection media: All data collection is done by electronic questionnaires.

Planned changes in data collection methodology: A revision is under way.

Not available.

Estimates for non-response: none.

Estimates for grossing-up to population levels: none.

Type of index: Simple Laspeyres index.

Method of weighting and chaining: For all types of construction, the weighting system is fixed and is only changed when there is a revision. The weights are based on an analysis of the final account  of a representitive project for each type of construction. The weights for aggregating each construction type and large region are based on their share of the level of investment in construction. The values come from statistics on construction and accommodation. The weights used to aggregate the construction types into the total construction index are the construction investment made in 2018.

Planned changes in production methods: A revision is under way.

The method of prices for construction services is used ("prix des prestations"): the prices for a list of standardised works are collected. In order to have regional indices the same number (as near as possible) of prices for each construction service are collected for each (of 7) large regions.

The indices are calculated by taking the geometric average for each heading and for each large region of the elementary indices (the price indices for each enterprise for each heading). These index headings are subsequently aggregated using weights for each type of construction and for each large region in order to produce the building, civil engineering and total construction indices.

 The current base period is October 2020 =100. The indices are published on the Internet on base 2020=100, but rebased on base 2021=100 for data sent to Eurostat.