Housing Sprint Second Meeting

7:00 am - 7:15 am

Session 1: Introduction, welcome remarks, and scene-setting

Welcome remarks

Ronald Jansen, Assistant Director of the UN Statistics Division and Chief of the Data Innovation and Capacity Management Branch

Summary report from the First Sprint Meeting

Frantisek Bernadic, Director of macro-economic statistics, Eurostat

7:15 am - 8:05 am

Session 2: The OOH in the Harmonized CPI

Owner-Occupied Housing and the EU HICP
The presentation will give an overview of past and present discussions in the European Statistical System on the inclusion of OOH in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP).
Presenter: Paul Konijn, Head of the Price Statistics, Purchasing Power Parities, Housing Statistics Unit at Eurostat
Presentation: Owner-occupied housing and the EU HICP

Outcome of the 2021 Monetary Policy Strategy Review
This presentation will provide an overview of the outcome of the 2021 Monetary Policy Strategy Review of the European Central Bank in the field of owner-occupied housing (OOH) and inflation measurement in the euro area. Aspects of the OOH analysis in the ECB, statistical challenges and ongoing analytical work in this field will be presented.
Presenter: Stanimira Kosekova, Senior Economist-Statistician, Monetary and Economic Statistics Division, European Central Bank
Presentation: ECB's Monetary Policy Strategy Review: OOH and inflation measurement

8:05 am - 8:15 am

Break

8:15 am - 9:30 am

Session 3: European country experiences with measuring OOH

Owner Occupied Housing in the Irish CPI
The payments approach is currently used for owner occupied housing in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Ireland. The Central Statistics Office commissioned research to investigate and assess the potential of alternative measures for owner occupied housing in the Irish CPI. The outcomes from that research will be presented including the issues and limitations of the different approaches.
Presenter: Edel Flannery, Head of the Prices Division in the Central Statistics Office, Ireland
Presentation: Owner Occupied Housing in the Irish CPI

The Treatment of Owner-Occupied Housing in the Finnish CPI
In the Finnish CPI owner occupied housing is measured using the net acquisition approach. This presentation will cover the history of measuring OOH in the Finnish CPI and a brief description of the characteristics of Finnish housing markets as well as the data sources and methods used for measuring OOH
Presenters: Johanna Kaila and Kristiina Nieminen, Senior Statisticians, Statistics Finland
Presentation: The Treatment of Owner-Occupied Housing in the Finnish CPI

Owner Occupied Housing in The Netherlands
In this presentation, we discuss the rental equivalence method employed by Statistics Netherlands to measure price changes of OOH and the reasons why this method is used in the Netherlands. A parallel is drawn with the current challenge of measuring energy contracts, in particular the existing and new contracts.
Presenter: Carlo Driesen, Director of government statistics and consumer prices
Presentation: Owner Occupied Housing in the CPI

9:30 am - 9:50 am

Session 4 | Plenary Discussion

A plenary discussion with a focus on drawing high level conclusions, leading to non-binding recommendations for compilers of OOH in the CPI.

An internationally comparable CPI, which includes OOH, and is based on the CPI manual, is a desirable objective of all NSIs. The following, non-exhaustive, elements are proposed for consideration and discussion:

• • Defining the primary purpose of the CPI, based on user requirements, is key to determining how it should be compiled, including the OOH component
• • The availability of data, including new sources, is an important determinant of the method for measuring OOH in the CPI
• • Continuing to experiment with various methods of measuring the OOH in the CPI will improve the suite of indicators available to users
• • Clear and direct communication to users of what is being measured and how, will contribute to bridging the gap between measured and perceived inflation

9:50 am - 10:00 am

Session 5 | Consolidating discussion, next steps, and closing remarks

This session will briefly synthesize the conversation as well as provide a short introduction of the next meeting of the sprint.

10:00 am

Adjourn