Output Prices Index in Construction (Base year 2005)

Methodological note on the Output Prices Index in Construction
Scope The quarterly Index of Output Prices measures the changes in unit prices charged to clients of construction work. Consequently, it shows the change
in the overall cost of construction work incurred to the client, including costs coming from the materials used, from labour, energy, transport, etc, as well as the profit made by the contractors. It can been seen as an indication of inflation’s level in Construction compared to a specific reference year, the base year. Data collection Every quarter, unit prices are collected for a list of basic construction
tasks necessary from the foundation to the completion of projects such as houses, apartments, non residential buildings and civil engineering projects (i.e. projects of open spaces and, generally speaking, everything that cannot be classified as a building). Data are collected from a sample of enterprises involved in the different construction stages of the projects under study, using all possible means (phone call, fax, personal visit, e-mail) according to the contact person΄s preference.
Calculation method The tasks that are priced are grouped accordingly by type of project. Aggregation of the tasks uses weights that reflect the cost of each task within each construction project. At the final level of aggregation, for the total output prices index, the weight used is the turnover of each type of construction project in relation to the total. The indices that come out for the different types of construction projects are also used as
deflators for the calculation of the Production Index in Construction (see relevant methodological note in the corresponding Excel file). Dissemination practices The base year for the index is 2005. This means that it shows the changes in unit prices in relation to their average values in the year 2005. In the base year, the average of the output prices index for the four quarters is set to 100,0. For example, an index of 112,3 implies that
prices have gone up by 12,3% in relation to the average prices of 2005.The percentage change given next to the index measures year on year changes between quarters or between yearly averages. Contact For further information: Isidoros Kypridakis Fax : 22661313

Last update: 02/11/2009