In the 2nd quarter the Dwelling Price Index was influenced the most by price increase of apartments

In the 2nd quarter compared to the previous quarter, the prices of apartments increased by 5.6% and the prices of houses decreased by 1.5%. Compared to the 2nd quarter of 2011, the prices of apartments have increased by 10.0% and the prices of houses by 2.9%.

The Dwelling Price Index expresses the changes in the transaction prices of dwellings purchased by households. The data source is the Estonian Land Board. The transaction data have been combined with data from the National Register of Construction Works. The Dwelling Price Indices have been compiled for apartments and houses (including detached, semi-detached and terraced houses).

The Dwelling Price Index is published on the base 2010 = 100. The time series start from the 1st quarter of 2005. The annual index is calculated as the average of four quarters. To improve the comparability of data, transactions with apartments smaller than 18 m2 and bigger than 250 m2 were left out. To avoid the inclusion of extreme prices, 2% of transactions with the lowest and the highest square metre prices were cut off. Transactions with apartments in the Old Town of Tallinn were also excluded as too exclusive. To calculate the Dwelling Price Index for houses, the data of transactions with no information about the dwelling area had to be left out of the further calculations. Transactions in the Old Town of Tallinn were left out as too exclusive.

This is the first publication of the Dwelling Price Index by Statistics Estonia. The Dwelling Price Index is published quarterly in accordance with the release calendar of Statistics Estonia.

Dwelling Price Index, 1st quarter 2005 – 2nd quarter 2012 (2010 = 100)