Price Statistics Division

29 Gedimino Ave, LT-01500 Vilnius, Lithuania

The objective of statistical survey on prices for construction cost items – to prepare and publish an indicator - Construction Input Price Index (hereafter - CIPI), intended to determine a general price change over a certain time period for the main cost items of a new construction. The CIPI is used for calculation of various indicators at constant prices, analysis of economic development and estimation of inflation processes at construction sector.

NACE Rev.2  classification (Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community)  and CC classification (Classification of Types of Construction) are used.

The CIPI covers Groups, Divisions and Sections of the Classification of Types of Construction (CC). 

CONSTRUCTION COSTS
The CIPI is a relative indicator reflecting the overall change in input prices for new construction costs components (material, exploitation machines and mechanisms, wages and salaries, etc.) over a certain period of time. The CIPI for new residential buildings is calculated excluding residencies for communities.

The MATERIAL COSTS index is generally calculated using material prices. Construction enterprises report the actual prices at the construction site trade enterprises report wholesale prices of construction materials. The prices excluding VAT are recorded.

The LABOUR COSTS index should cover wages and salaries and social security charges for all persons at the construction site employed.

Reporting unit is enterprise.

Observation unit is KAU (Kind of activity unit).

Construction enterprises whose volume of new construction accounted not less than 50 percent share of own account works are selected. Trade enterprises selected represent the current network of trade in construction materials and products. The survey covers 200 construction enterprises employing 20 and more persons, as well as 100 trade enterprises of all sizes are included.

The entire territory of the Lithuania.

From August 1994.

Year 2021 = 100

Index. Percentage changes (%).

Month.

State Data Agency (Statistics Lithuania) is only institution engaged for CIPI. Data on construction costs for new residential buildings are transmitted only to Eurostat.

 The Law on Official Statistics;

 In the process of statistical data collection, processing and analysis and dissemination of statistical information, State Data Agency (Statistics Lithuania) fully guarantees the confidentiality of the data submitted by respondents (households, enterprises, institutions, organisations and other statistical units), as defined in the  Confidentiality Policy Guidelines of Statistics Lithuania.

Statistical Disclosure Control Manual, approved by Order No DĮ-26 of 19 January 2024 of the Director General of Statistics Lithuania;

The State Data Governance Information System Data Security Regulations and Rules for the Secure Management of Electronic Information in the State Data Governance Information System, approved by Order No DĮ-202 of 27 August 2021 of the Director General of Statistics Lithuania.

Statistical information is published on the Official Statistics Portal according to the Official Statistics Calendar.

Official Statistics Calendar

Statistical information is prepared and disseminated under the principle of impartiality and objectivity, i.e. in a systematic, reliable and unbiased manner, following professional and ethical standards (the European Statistics Code of Practice), and the policies and practices followed are transparent to users and survey respondents.

All users have equal access to statistical information. All statistical information is published at the same time – at 9 a.m. on the day of publication of statistical information as indicated in the calendar on the Official Statistics Portal. Relevant statistical information is sent automatically to news subscribers.

The President and Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania, their advisers, the Ministers of Finance, Economy and Innovation as well as Social Security and Labour or their authorized persons, as well as, in exceptional cases, external experts and researchers have the right to receive early statistical information. The specified persons are entitled to receive statistical reports on GDP, inflation, employment and unemployment and other particularly relevant statistical reports one day prior to the publication of this statistical information on the Official Statistics Portal. Before exercising the right of early receipt of statistical information, a person shall sign an undertaking not to disseminate the statistical information received before it has been officially published.

Statistical information is published following the Official Statistics Dissemination Policy Guidelines and Statistical Information Dissemination and Communication Rules of Statistics Lithuania approved by Order No DĮ-176 of 2 July 2021 of Director General of Statistics Lithuania.

CIPI is produced and disseminated monthly.

A news release on changes in the prices of construction input items is not prepared.

Annual statistical information is published in the publications: Lithuania in Figures.

Statistical indicators are published in the Database of Indicators (Economy and finance -> Price indices, changes and prices -> Construction input price index (CIPI), price changes and index weights).

The Indicators Database page is for viewing and analyzing statistical information. For more information on the Indicators Database, see the Indicators Database User Guide.

State Date Agency (Statistics Lithuania) may, on the basis of contracts concluded with higher education institutions or research institutes, provide statistical data to researchers of these higher education institutions and research institutes to carry out specific statistical analyses for research purposes. Statistical data are provided in accordance with the provisions specified in the Description of Procedure for Data Depersonalisation and Pseudonymisation. More information is available on the Official Statistics Portal, in the section Data Provision.

Statistical information is published in the Eurostat database.

Statistical information can also be provided upon individual requests (more information on the website of the Official Statistics Portal).

A complete description of the methodology used to compile the CIPI is published on the Official Statistics Portal: Methodological documentation (only in Lithuanian).

Quality indicators for CIPI is prepared (in Lithuania and English) each month and published on the Official Statistics Portal under Metadata.

The quality of statistical information and its production process is ensured by the provisions of the European Statistics Code of Practice and ESS Quality Assurance Framework.

In 2007, a quality management system, conforming to the requirements of the international quality management system standard ISO 9001, was introduced at Statistics Lithuania. The main trends in activity of Statistics Lithuania aimed at quality management and continuous development in the institution are established in the Quality Policy.

Monitoring of the quality indicators of statistical processes and their results and self-evaluation of statistical survey managers is regularly carried out in order to identify the areas which need improvement and to promptly eliminate the shortcomings.

More information on assurance of quality of statistical information and its preparation is published in the Quality Management section on the Statistics Lithuania website.

Monitoring of the quality of CIPI is based on quality requirements of the ESS (relevance, accuracy, timelines and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, coherence and comparability). Inspection of statistical survey, testing of statistical questionnaire, self-assessment of statistical survey manager is carried out. The quality of the information obtained is analyzed when evaluating the indicators. Results of the calculation are compared with the results of the previous period, arithmetic averages are calculated. Outstanding values of indicators are identified and analyzed. In the event of significant deviations, the data provider shall be contacted and the reasons for the deviation explained.

When the survey is closed for a reference month and CIPI is calculated the response rate is 100%. CIPI is internally coherent and comparable over time. Publications of result are always punctual. The collection and compilation of statistical information was not affected by COVID-19.

The main users of statistical information are the institutions of the European Commission, state institutions and agencies, international organisations, the media, business and research communities, students, whose needs are satisfied without a breach of the confidentiality principle. CIPI used in fields of National Accounts, construction and OOH statistics.

Since 2005, user opinion surveys have been conducted on a regular basis. Official Statistics Portal traffic is monitored, website visitor opinion polls, general opinion poll on the products and services of State Data Agency (Statistics Lithuania), target user group opinion polls and other surveys are conducted.

In 2007, the compilation of a user satisfaction index was launched. The said surveys are aimed at the assessment of the overall demand for and necessity of statistical information in general and specific statistical indicators in particular.

More information on user opinion surveys and results thereof are published in the User Surveys section on the State Data Agency (Statistics Lithuania) website.

The CIPI is released at the country level by groups, divisions and sections of the CC, as well as the total CIPI. The price indices of the main groups of cost items and their changes are published at national level. The contents and level of detail of the indicator comply with EU requirements. 100 per cent of information produced in accordance with the Official Statistics Programme Part I  is published.

Received CIPI results are analysed, looking for errors, which may affect the final results. Monthly price changes are calculated, more attention is paid to whose representative cost items price changes, which are ≥ 10 and ≤ -10 per cent, as well as those prices, which changed due to the quality, the change of the season. Also, special attention is paid to those price changes, which most influence the general change in the CIPI.

Sampling errors are not calculated for Construction Cost Index because the sample is not based on random sampling.

The list of construction enterprises – respondents is formed by means of target sampling and it includes construction enterprises whose volume of new construction accounted not less than 50 percent  of own account construction work (NACE Section F) in the previous year are selected. The sampled construction enterprises differ in specialization and represent various regions of Lithuania. The criterion for the sample of trade enterprises is their turnover and specialization.

The response rate is 100%.

Each month, on average, about 9.9 per cent of prices are not collected for various reasons (seasonality, changes in the structure of works, disturbances in supply, termination of enterprise activities etc.). Missing prices are estimated using the appropriate methods. Reminder calls and e-mails are used to maintain high response rate. On-line price data collection system is actively developed in order to reduce the response burden and obtain data of good quality.

CIPI is published on the 24th - 30th day of the following month after the end of the reference month at 9 a. m. (local time).

Statistical information is published in accordance with an Official Statistics Calendar. In case of delay, users are notified in advance by indicating the reason and a new date of publication.

CIPIs are comparable across the EU. Definitions of the indicator are in line with the EU requirements defined in Commission Regulation 1503/2006.

The time series of the total CIPI and the CIPI by type of construction are computed beginning from January 1991; the time series by the groups of the main costs items – from August 1994. New methods the application could affect the comparability of the CIPI over time. Since 1998 CIPI data are fully comparable over time.

The labour cost component trend is comparable with the Labour Statistics data, but the values of the indicators are not fully compatible due to differences in coverage.

CIPI is internally coherent. Lower level price indices are aggregated to the higher level indices and the total CIPI.

In 2023 the average time spent by respondents to fill statistical report KA–19 was 35 min., KA–20 – 37 min., KA–21 – 35 min. In 2023 the costs of the NSI was 3412 hours per year.

State Data Agency (Statistics Lithuania) pays particular attention to reducing statistical reporting burden on respondents. Its obligations to implement the Law on Reducing the Administrative Burden of the Republic of Lithuania and to reduce the statistical reporting burden of the respondents are defined in the Policy of Reducing the Statistical Reporting Burden of the Respondents.

More information on burden reduction can be found at https://osp.stat.gov.lt/statistines-atskaitomybes-nastos-mazinimas

The revision policy applied by State Data Agency (Statistics Lithuania) is described in the Description of Procedure for Performance, Analysis and Publication of Revisions of Statistical Information.

The CIPI is published as final and is not revised. Exception – when errors having an impact on the all items CIPI are detected.

In 2023, the CIPI was not revised.

MAR = 0 and MR = 0.

CIPI is derived from the statistical survey on input prices of construction. The main statistical data sources are statistical data of the construction and trade enterprises selected and information on prices of representative costs items. The survey is carried out applying a purposive sample both for the choice of reporting units and the choice of cost items. Construction enterprises with 20 or more persons employed are covered. Trade enterprises of all sizes are included. The representative items are selected according to their share in the overall estimation of the construction unit. A sample of reporting units is updated every year. A sample of cost items is drawn every five years, the last update was made in 2020 year. Approximately 3700 price quotes of 155 representative items are obtained monthly from 200 construction and 100 trade enterprises.

A weighting system is based on statistical data prepared by State Data Agency (Statistics Lithuania), Short Term Business Statistics Division on the volume of construction works, and cost estimation documentation of representative construction structures.

Prices are collected monthly.

The monthly report on prices of construction materials and products (KA–19), monthly report on the cost of the working hours of employees and machinery (KA–20) and monthly report on the sale prices of construction materials and products (KA–21) are used for collecting data on prices. Construction enterprises reports KA–19 and KA–20 are submitted to Data Preparation Division of Statistics Lithuania on the 8th day after the reporting month is over, trade enterprises KA–21 – on the 7th day after the reporting month is over. The data are collected via the electronic statistical data preparation and transmission system e-Statistics. Statistical reporting forms are regularly reviewed and, if necessary, improved, (last updated in 2021), and agreed with the Ministry of Economy and Innovation of the Republic of Lithuania in order to reduce the statistical reporting burden on respondents.

Statistical report forms are published at the Statistical questionnaire (only in Lithuanian.)

Appropriate validation procedures are applied on the level of unit data and aggregates, as well as before transmission to Eurostat.

The specialist of Data Preparation Division carries out the primary verification of the data received. The Price Statistics Division carries out the secondary verification and editing as well as validation of the data using the data control program designed for the check of statistical price data. Data are compared to the data of previous periods. Reasons of changes in the prices of costs items are analysed. Particular attention is paid to quality changes, to prices that do not change for a very long time, to the lowest and the highest prices.

The CIPI is computed by applying the modified Laspeyres formula. The lowest level price indices are calculated for each costs item. They are the ratios of the arithmetic mean of prices. Average price of each costs item in the reference month is compared with the average price of the previous month. The obtained short-term price ratio is multiplied by the long-term price ratio for the each costs item in the previous month. The individual price indices of costs items are aggregated into a higher level price indices (groups of costs items: materials, exploitation of machinery, labour costs; as well as total index) according to the Laspeyres formula using the base weightings.

In case of a missing price, the previous observed price is carried forward or the missing price is imputed by observing the movement in prices for similar items or group to which the item belongs. New representative items are introduced when changing the weights for the calculation of the CIPI.

Price indices for the reference year are linked to the price indices for the previous year using the chain-linking method. The linking period is December of the previous year.

The process of compiling statistical indicators is described in more detail in the Methodology for compiling the Construction Input Price Index (only in Lithuanian).

Quality changes are taken into account applying a bridged overlap (prices are collected for old and replacement items in the same month and the difference between the two prices is taken as a measure of their quality differences) and expert estimation (the impact of the change in the quality on prices is estimated by the experts of enterprises) methods. Small changes characteristics which are not believed to influence price are ignored and prices for the old item and its replacement are compared directly.

Price indices are not seasonal or working day by adjustment. When prices are temporarily absent for seasonal items, the last observed price is carried forward.

Not applicable