Property price indices in the Commonwealth: Construction methodologies and problems

This paper examines commonly used property price indices in several Commonwealth countries. It finds that many of the measures may be flawed owing to two issues relating to the index construction methodology: the quality change problem and the choice of an index number algorithm. Using data that comprises the universe of transactions for the Singapore residential market, alternative indices based on more rigourous estimation models are constructed that aim to mitigate these problems. When compared to the official benchmark indices, deviations in time series price behaviour are evident particularly for short‐run dynamics. A key implication of the results is the importance of explicitly recognizing the biases that can arise from using extant indices. Otherwise, a reliance on flawed index signals for decision‐making may result in distorted allocations.