Statistics Denmark 

Prices and consumption

Statistics Denmark, Sejrogade 11, 2100 Copenhagen O, Att. Sigrid Krogstrup Jensen

Construction Cost Index for Residential Buildings (Byggeomkostningsindeks for boliger) divided into two indices: one for material costs and one for labour costs.
The main purpose is to illustrate the development of costs incurred by contractors in the construction process. The index is used as an economic indicator, for deflation and for contract regulation. 

The Danish Construction Cost Index use the NACE Rev. 2 classification

The index covers residential buildings in NACE Rev. 2 Section F, and CC Groups 111 and 112 in Classification of Types of Construction. For calculating the Construction Cost Index 8 reprensentative buildings are used - 3 one family dwellings, 2 two-family dwellings  and 3 multi-family dwellings

The Construction Cost Index for Residential Buildings is a weighted aggregate of indices for material costs and labour costs. The main variables are materials and labour costs. The concept of material prices for imported commodities is actual transaction prices c.i.f. excluding all duties and taxes on the goods. For commodities for the home market the concept of material prices is actual   transaction prices ex producer, excluding VAT and excise duties, and taking both general and specific discounts into consideration. The price concept of labour costs is the actual earnings plus other labour costs, including employers' payments of employees' first and second days of unemployment. Profits, fees, VAT and the cost of land are not included in the index.

Reporting units are not relevant to these statistics. Data are obtained from existing price collections in Statistics Denmark, mainly the Price Index for Domestic Supply and Indices of Average Earnings for the Private Sector.

The observation units are material prices, equipment prices and labour costs.

Material prices are collected for the Danish PPI. The Construction Cost Index uses PPI-prices belonging to NACE Rev. 2 Section F. There are about 1200 material prices forming about 160 representative material goods. Labor Costs are collected for the Danish indices for average earnings in the private sector. The Construction Cost Index uses earning for NACE Rev. 2 Section F.

All regions of Denmark are covered. 

The Construction Cost Index dates back to the first quarter of 2003. Combining the previous Construction Cost Index for residential buildings with the current weighting scheme, the index has been calculated back to 1995. 

2010 

Indices (nationally data is exclusively published as indices)

Quarter 

The legal basis under which the data is collected is specified in the Statute of Danmarks Statistik, art. 8, where a list of variables is identified.

The business units are obliged to provide the data according to statute. Fines can be given in cases of non-response or deliberate reporting of wrong information.

There are no planned changes in the legal basis.

Data is exclusively transmitted to Eurostat

All statistics production in Statistics Denmark follow the Code of Practice for European Statistics and the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.

Only indices at an aggregated level are published.

Preliminary dates are fixed for a period of one year ahead and can be found at the web site of Statistics Denmark, www.dst.dk. The exact release date is published in News from Statistics Denmark one week before publication. 

http://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/offentliggoerelser.aspx

All Statistics are published in News from Statistics Denmark and in StatBank Denmark at 9.30. No users have prior access to the data.

No prior access to data is given.

Data are transmitted to Eurostat at the same time as national publication.

Data is transmitted to both Eurostat and national users on a quarterly basis

A quarterly news release is published

The Index is published in the paper publication "Byggeri og Boligforhold" under the headline: "Byggeomkostningsindeks for boliger".
In the national publication, the Construction Cost Index for Residential Buildings is also divided into an index for one-family houses and an index for multi-family houses.

The index is published electronically in Statistikbanken, www.statbank.dk.
In the national publication, the Construction Cost Index for Residential Buildings is also divided into an index for one-family houses and an index for multi-family houses.
Also a Construction Cost Index for Civil Engineering Work is calculated for national publication, divided into indices for Roads, Earth work, Asphalt work, Concrete structures, Iron structures and sub-indices for Materials and machinery and Traffic performance by lorries. The indices are published electronically in Statistikbanken, www.statbank.dk.

The index is published electronically in Statistikbanken, www.statbank.dk. In the national publication, the Construction Cost Index for Residential Buildings is also divided into an index for one-family houses and an index for multi-family houses. Also a Construction Cost Index for Civil Engineering Work is calculated for national publication, divided into indices for Roads, Earth work, Asphalt work, Concrete structures, Iron structures and sub-indices for Materials and machinery and Traffic performance by lorries. The indices are published electronically in Statistikbanken, www.statbank.dk.

Micro-data is confidential, thus, it is not disseminated to anyone outside the NSI.

Data is transmitted to Eurostat and published by Statistcs Denmark according to 10.2.

No main methodological reference manual is available as such, but on the web site all statistics are described in Declarations of Contents. Additional information (only available in Danish) can be found in the paper publication “Statistiske Efterretninger – Byggeomkostningsindeks for boliger 2.kvartal 2003”.

In the national publication, the Construction Cost Index for Residential Buildings is also divided into an index for one-family houses and an index for multi-family houses, each of them divided into 8 sub-indices by profession and 6 sub-indices by building parts. Each of them is furthermore divided into indices for material and labour costs.

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No precise quantitative measure has been calculated regarding the overall accuracy. Statistics Denmark refers to the Code of Practice for European Statistics and the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics for its quality assurance policy.

Overall the Construction Cost index for residential buildings is assessed to be of good quality.

The Construction Cost index for residential building is used to monitor the development in the costs of building residential buildings in Denmark by public institutions and the EU. Lawyers, contractors and construction organisations use the index to adjust contracts in the construction sector for this cost development.

Overall the users are satisfied. User satisfaction has not been measured but no complaints with the index have ever been filed.

All statistics required and needed are available.

The Construction Cost index for residential buildings is based on about 200 representative goods. About 170 types of materials, 20 types of labour and 15 types of equipment. Each good has its own price source. 

The representative goods are selected on the basis of bills of quantities for 8 different residential buildings. They have been selected according to a principle of significance and representativity.

The index covers the construction of residential buildings which is typical for Denmark. This typical construction work has been identified through a thorough anlysis of the construction of residential buildings performed in Denmark.              

Since the  Construction Cost index for residential buildings is component cost index no sampling error is calculated.

The representative goods used for calculating the index are selected on the basis of bills of quantities for 8 different residential buildings. They have been selected according to a principle of significance and representativity. The index covers the construction of residential buildings which is typical for Denmark. This typical construction work has been identified through a thorough anlysis of the construction of residential buildings performed in Denmark. Data on transaction prices for materials are collected from retailors for the Danish PPI which operates with an extremely low non-response rate, thus, response issues have been solved before the data enters the calculation of the index. Data on earnings is register based data.

The Construction Cost index for residential buildings for a quarter is being calculated and disseminated within 85 days after the end of the quarter in question.

All deadlines are met.

Only indices covering the entire country are compiled in accordance with European statistical concepts.

It is possible to chain and compare the construction cost index (2003 - present) for residential buildings with the former construction cost index (1995 - 2003). However, when comparing the two indices it should be borne in mind that it is not the development of prices for similar buildings that are compared but different kinds of buildings that are constructed using different techniques, materials and in periods with different legal demands. This means that not only the weighting scheme but also the methods for collecting prices and calculating the indices are differentIn order to make comparisons over time the indices can be chained to compare with previous calculations of the index.

There is no confrontation with other data sets.

Data are obtained mainly from the Price Index for Domestic Supply and Indices of Average Earnings for the Private Sector. Comparisons with data from the Price Index for Domestic Supply can be made. However, Indices of Average Earnings for the Private Sector are published only on a yearly basis, the quarterly indices are compiled specifically for the Construction Cost Index for residential buildings. Thus, the two are not directly comparable. Labour costs and material costs are coherent with total costs.

All data comes from existing data sources, thus, no data is collected in the auspices of the Construction Cost Index for Residential Buildings. About 400 person-hours per year is used to compile, publish the indices, including transmission to Eurostat.

Revisions are announced simultaneously with the publication of the revised index numbers. Major changes in methodology are announced in advance of the change.

The Construction Cost Index for Residential Buildings is revised very rarely.

Statistical survey based on already existing price collections in Statistics Denmark, mainly the Price Index for Domestic Supply and Indices of Average Earnings for the Private Sector.

The 8 buildings used for calculating the weighting system have been chosen on the basis of an analysis of typical house building from the Central Register of Buildings and Dwellings (BBR).

The data collection, incl. stratification, sample updates etc., is handled by the Price Index for Domestic Supply and Indices of Average Earnings for the Private Sector.

The data collection is handled by the Price Index for Domestic Supply and Indices of Average Earnings for the Private Sector. Prices are collected monthly and labour costs are collected in the second month of the quarter. 

Questionnaires are not used in the index. Instead, prices are obtained from existing price collections in Statistics Denmark, mainly the Price Index for Domestic Supply and Indices of Average Earnings for the Private Sector.

The data is collected by the Price Index for Domestic Supply and Indices of Average Earnings for the Private Sector. There are no planned changes in the methodology.

The data validation is handled by the Price Index for Domestic Supply and Indices of Average Earnings for the Private Sector. The first validation of price data happens when prices arrive. Here they are tested for unusual changes. The prices that do not pass the threshold value will be checked manually by the staff and accepted only if the firms can verify the change. When all prices are received, the system generates a list that includes all price changes and a measure of how these affects the elementary aggregates. The last validation is a visual inspection of all index tables.

The data collection, and thus non-reponse, is handled by the Price Index for Domestic Supply and Indices of Average Earnings for the Private Sector.

No grossing-up to population levels is done.

The index is calculated according to Jevons and Laspeyres formula in two steps. First, elementary indices for average prices are calculated by comparing the present quarter with the previous, and then chaining the quarter-to-quarter development with the developments in previous quarters. The average is calculated as a geometric mean for material and equipment prices (Jevons index), and as an arithmetic mean for labour costs (Laspeyres index).
The introduction of new price quotations, discontinued price quotations as well as quality changes are mainly handled in accordance with the Deletion method (or IP-IQ method, “Imputed price change – implicit quality adjustment”.) The method allows only the price development of new price quotations to influence the index, not any possible difference in price level.

The weighting system refers to eight typical new buildings, divided among three one-family houses, one terraced house, one semi-detached house and three multi-family houses. The data for the 8 buildings has been obtained from 5 contractors of different size and geographic location. The weighting scheme refers to the cost level in 2000. For each building the detailed components cost shares are specified and linked with a representative good, either a material type, labour cost or equipment type, for which prices are obtained.

A new IT-production system is being developed. It will be in accordance with production method described in this document. A new weighting scheme, which will change the weight base to 2015, is also under development and wilol be built the same principles as described in this document. Furthermore, new indices for labor costs are being developed. All three will be implemented from 2016Q1.                                                                                                                

No seasonal adjustments are made. 

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