Forthcoming changes to House Price Indexes: eight capital cities

This information paper outlines changes to the content and format of House Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0), from the December quarter 2013. These changes are the result of a review to ensure the published statistics continue to meet user needs and reflect current economic activity. To reflect the suite of new statistics the publication title will be changed to Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0). The publication will continue to be published on a quarterly basis and will be released six weeks after the reference quarter.

Chapter 1 of this information paper introduces the topics presented. Chapter 2 outlines the purpose of the residential property price indexes and chapter 3 provides a summary of the indexes that will be published. Chapter 4 provides information on the total value of the dwelling stock, including its methodology and outputs for publication. Chapter 5 lists other changes to outputs from the December quarter 2013. Future directions for this publication are discussed in Chapter 6. Additional information is contained in the appendices.

1.1 Residential property prices are of significant interest to policy makers, market analysts and researchers for a range of economic and social reasons. The price of residential dwellings plays an important role in the Australian economy, both in terms of the transmission of monetary policy and as an important determinant of household wealth.

1.2 This information paper outlines changes to be made to the content and format of the publication, House Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0). These changes are the result of a review to ensure the published statistics continue to meet user needs and reflect current economic activity. The changes are:

• the publication of an Attached Dwellings Price Index (ADPI) and an aggregated Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) in addition to the existing House Price Index (HPI);
• the publication of new statistics relating to the value of the dwelling stock; and
• changes to other outputs.
   

1.3 From the December quarter 2013 the title of the current publication, House Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0) will be changed to Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0) to reflect the suite of new statistics. These statistics will be released six weeks after the end of the reference quarter.

1.4 This information paper also outlines:

• the use of data from the 2011 Census of Population and Housing to update the stratification and weights of the indexes;
• the use of the new Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS); and
• the introduction of a new index reference period of 2011-12=100.

2.1 There are several possible conceptual approaches to compiling residential property price indexes (RPPIs).

2.2 The uses of RPPIs include:

• a macroeconomic indicator of residential property price inflation;
• monetary policy and inflation targeting;
• an input into estimating the value of housing as a component of wealth in the National Accounts; and
• an input into an individual citizen's decision making.

2.3 For many years the ABS has compiled a House Price Index (HPI). The data source for this index is the State and Territories Land Titles Office or Valuers-General Office (collectively referred to as VGs for the rest of this paper) and the methodology used is a stratification approach (footnote 1) . The scope of the HPI is 'detached dwellings in capital cities'.

2.4 The main purpose of the HPI has been as a macroeconomic indicator of residential property price inflation.

2.5 An opportunity to review the purpose of the HPI occurred as part of the ABS program to enhance macroeconomic statistics in Australia (footnote 2) .

2.6 The ABS considered the various purposes of compiling house price statistics and determined that the future suite of RPPIs (footnote 3) will serve the dual purpose of:

1. a macroeconomic indicator of residential property price inflation; and
2. supporting the compilation of the non-financial assets component of the Household Balance Sheet in the Australian System of National Accounts (ASNA).
    

2.7 International literature focuses on the compilation of a pure price index. A pure price index is compiled by pricing the same product(s) over time and by removing quality from the price change as it occurs.

2.8 In the case of an RPPI, producing a pure price index requires the removal of quality changes of individual dwellings. To do this requires the identification of a range of characteristics of individual dwellings, for example the number of bathrooms and number of bedrooms. A pure price index requires significant resources to compile. A pure price index provides a measure of the change in price which is not due to changes in any of the characteristics of the house.

2.9 A pure price index is suitable for some purposes and not for others. For example, if an index is to be useful in the estimation of the value of stocks of housing, the index should reflect the price of the property whether it is the result of a change in the characteristics (a quality change) or a pure price change.

2.10 The ABS RPPIs stratify dwelling transactions by dwelling type, long term median price and SEIFA (footnote 4) . Similar dwellings (not exactly the same dwellings) are priced each period and changes in other characteristics of the dwelling stock are not removed from the price index. To produce a pure price index, additional variables including number of bedrooms, bathrooms and land size would need to be used to stratify the dwelling transactions. The ABS RPPIs are useful for many analytical purposes, including as a macroeconomic indicator of residential property price inflation.

2.11 The price of residential dwellings is also an important input used to compile wealth statistics.

2.12 At present the ABS produces household balance sheets on an annual basis only. Consequently, analysis of short-term changes in household wealth is constrained.

2.13 A barrier to the production of timely, quarterly balance sheets has been the lack of high quality quarterly estimates of non-financial assets owned by households. The financial assets are available quarterly in the Financial Accounts produced by the ABS. The total value of the dwelling stock is the most significant component of non-financial assets owned by households.

2.14 The price of residential dwellings is a key input to valuing the dwelling stock. The dataset used to produce the RPPIs is also used to compile a high quality quarterly estimate of the dwelling stock. The ABS has obtained data back to 2003 from each of the VGs on all residential properties bought and sold in Australia.

2.15 The ABS has developed a method to produce the total value of the dwelling stock (TVDS (footnote 5) ) on a quarterly basis. The RPPIs play a crucial role in the quarterly production of the TVDS. A key purpose of the RPPIs is therefore to support the compilation of the non-financial assets component of the Household Balance Sheet in the Australian System of National Accounts.

2.16 Further details are provided in subsequent chapters to outline the expanded scope and methodology used to produce the RPPIs and the methodology to compile the TVDS.

2.17 The ABS has considered the various purposes of compiling house price statistics and determined that the future suite of RPPIs will serve the dual purpose of:

1. a macroeconomic indicator of residential property price inflation; and
2. supporting the compilation of the non-financial assets component of the Household Balance Sheet in the Australian System of National Accounts (ASNA).

3.1 The ABS has compiled a House Price Index (HPI) since 1986. A 2004 review identified several possible improvements to the HPI. The key improvement being the expansion in scope to include dwellings other than detached houses (from now on referred to as attached dwellings).

3.2 An Attached Dwellings Price Index (ADPI) has now been developed by the ABS. This work required the collection of all Australian residential property sales data from VGs. This dataset contains a complete list of transactions from 2003 and has provided the opportunity to extend the scope beyond the current HPI to include attached dwellings as well as produce an aggregate RPPI (footnote 1) .

3.3 The future suite of indexes to be published in Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0) is:

• A Residential Property Price Index (RPPI);
• An Established House Price Index (HPI); and
• An Attached Dwellings Price Index (ADPI).

3.4 The new indexes will be published quarterly, with a time series starting in the September quarter 2003.

3.5 The headline price measure in Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0) will be the RPPI. This index is an aggregation of the HPI and the ADPI and measures the price change in all residential dwellings within the eight Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSAs)(footnote 2) . This measure will be published on an index reference period of 2011-12=100. The index will be published quarterly, with a time series starting in the September quarter 2003.

3.6 The HPI will continue to measure the price change in all established detached houses. This naming convention has been used from 1986, and will remain in the new publication. The HPI will be compiled for the eight GCCSAs. This measure will be published on an index reference period of 2011-12=100. The scope of the HPI will continue to be established detached houses on their own block of land.

3.7 The ADPI measures the price change of attached dwellings within the eight GCCSAs. This measure will be published on an index reference period of 2011-12=100. Dwellings in scope of the index are:

• flats, units and apartments; and
• semi-detached, row and terrace houses.
   

3.8 The preliminary RPPI for the weighted average of the eight capital cities rose 5.1% through the year to the June quarter 2013. Annually, the RPPI rose in all cities. The largest rise was in Perth (+10.2%). Rises in the other cities were Darwin (+6.7%), Sydney (+6.1%), Brisbane (+3.6%), Melbourne (+3.5%), Canberra (+2.1%), Adelaide (+1.2%) and Hobart (+1.0%).

3.9 The preliminary ADPI for the weighted average of the eight capital cities rose 5.1% through the year to the June quarter 2013. Annually, the ADPI rose in all cities except Hobart. The rises were largest in Perth (+6.8%) and Sydney (+6.2%). Rises in the other cities were Melbourne (+4.2%), Darwin (+3.7%), Adelaide (+3.4%), Brisbane, (+3.1%) and Canberra (+0.1%). Hobart fell 0.6%.

3.10 Over the same period, the preliminary HPI for the weighted average of eight capital cities also rose 5.1%. The HPI rose in all cities. The rises in Perth (+11.0%), Darwin (+7.7%), Brisbane (+3.7%), Canberra (+2.6%) and Hobart (+1.2%) were larger than those in the ADPI. The rises in Sydney (+6.1%), Melbourne (+3.3%) and Adelaide (+0.6%) were smaller than those in the ADPI.

3.11 See Appendix 1 for index numbers and movements of the RPPI and the ADPI.

3.12 For many years the ABS has employed a stratification approach to compile the HPI. The same method will be used to compile the ADPI. The RPPI is an aggregation of the HPI and the ADPI.

3.13 The stratification approach separates the total sample of residential properties into a number of sub-samples or strata (footnote 3) . Each quarter, the strata for the HPI and ADPI are re-valued by applying a price relative (i.e. the current period median price of the stratum compared to the previous period median price of the same stratum) to the value of the dwelling stock for that stratum to produce a current period stratum value. The current period values of each stratum are then summed to derive the current value of the total dwelling stock in the capital city. Index numbers are subsequently derived from the total values.

3.14 The RPPIs will be a key input into estimating the total value of the dwelling stock in the national accounts. The TVDS estimate requires quality and price change of the housing stock to be included in the total value estimates. The ABS' stratification approach to compiling RPPIs supports this objective.

3.15 The exchange date is used in all indexes to determine the quarter in which the sale occurred. In Adelaide and Darwin the exchange date is not known. In these cases, the exchange date is modelled from the known settlement date.

3.16 For further information on the methodology employed, particularly stratification, please consult House Price Indexes: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 6464.0).

3.17 All Australian residential property sales data are collected from State and Territory VGs. The ABS supplements VGs data with mortgage lenders data to produce index series in the two most recent quarters.

3.18 Typically, several weeks elapse from the time an agreement is reached between two parties to sell/purchase a residential property and the ABS receiving the data relating to the transaction. This is because:

• there is a period of time from the exchange date (i.e. when a residential dwelling price is agreed upon and contracts are exchanged) and the settlement date (i.e. the residential dwelling legally changes ownership);
• information on residential dwelling sales are only lodged with the VGs sometime after settlement date; and
• a small additional time lag is known to exist between the lodgement of the transaction with the VG office and the data being received by the ABS.
   

3.19 To address this delay, the ABS supplements VGs data with data from mortgage lenders to produce index series for the RPPI, HPI and ADPI in the two most recent quarters. These series are considered Preliminary and are subject to revision.

3.20 Index series in the third most recent quarter following the reference period are compiled from VGs data only. These index series are considered Final (footnote 4) and are not revised.

3.21 The composition of data used to compile the HPI and ADPI for the Preliminary and Final series is listed in table 1 below.

3.22 Every five years, following the availability of data from the Census of Population and Housing, an index review is undertaken to update the quantities of dwellings that underpin the weights of the index. It also provides an opportunity to reassess the compilation methodology of the index. The most recent index review has occurred in relation to the 2011 Census and has been undertaken for the RPPI, HPI and ADPI.

3.23 Given there have been no significant changes to the availability of data on dwelling sales, the indexes will continue to be compiled using the stratification approach.

3.24 Maintaining the method of stratification for the introduction of the new series of indexes means that suburbs will be grouped into strata based on their long term median price (the median price of the suburb between the 2006 and 2011 Census) and their 2011 Socio-Economic Index for Areas (SEIFA) score on the Index of Relative Advantage and Disadvantage ( see Census of Population and Housing: Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), Australia, 2011 (cat. no. 2033.0.55.001) for more information on SEIFA). This approach balances homogeneity of suburbs within the same stratum with sufficient sales observations to construct reliable measures of price movements.

3.25 As a result of the updated variables for stratification, the number of strata in each city will change for both the HPI and the ADPI. Further information on the number of strata in each city will be available in the December quarter 2013 publication.

3.26 The weights underpinning the indexes are based on the value of dwellings (including land) in scope of the indexes. Dwelling counts from the 2011 Census of Population and Housing will be combined with the March quarter 2013 mean prices to produce new weights for the indexes.

3.27 The updated weights will be published in the December quarter 2013 issue of Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0).

3.28 The ABS has undertaken a review of geography standards (footnote 5) and is progressively producing data under the new standard.

3.29 The new geography standard introduces changes to the capital city boundaries. From the December quarter 2013, all references to capital cities will be defined by the ASGS Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSA).

3.30 While the current geography will be updated to align with the ASGS, historical naming conventions (i.e. Sydney rather than Greater Sydney) will continue to be used.

3.31 A time series will be maintained but users should exercise caution in interpreting medians and numbers of house transfers over time as historical data will reflect capital city boundaries as previously defined. This is particularly significant for Canberra where the capital city is now defined to be the whole of the ACT.

3.32 The new series for the RPPI, HPI and ADPI with updated weights and stratification commence in the June quarter 2013.

3.33 The new price index series is joined to the existing index to form a continuous series via a process known as chain linking. At the link period (March quarter 2013 in this instance), new dwelling stock weights and stratification are introduced in parallel to the old basis and median prices are calculated using both the new and old strata. The published index number for the link quarter is produced on the old basis.

3.34 See House Price Indexes: Concepts, Sources and Methods, Australia, 2009 (cat. no. 6464.0) for further information on chain linking.

3.35 The ABS changes the index reference period (a process known as re-referencing) of its suite of price indexes from time to time. This is because the index numbers lose relevance over time as an index moves significantly from the index reference period (i.e. has extremely low or high values).

3.36 Re-referencing does not change the relative movements between periods (footnote 6) . The HPI is currently published with an index reference period of 2003-2004=100.0. From the December quarter 2013, all index numbers will be published on a new index reference period of 2011-12=100.0 (footnote 7) .

3.37 An updated edition of House Price Indexes: Concepts, Sources and Methods, Australia, 2009 (cat. no. 6464.0) is planned for release in the second half of 2014.

4.1 Values of dwellings and land are published annually as part of the national and sectoral balance sheets within the annual Australian System of National Accounts (ASNA) (cat. no. 5204.0) publication. These estimates are currently based on figures compiled by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

4.2 The ABS will, utilising the additional data series outlined in this information paper, produce the value of the dwelling stock for the 2012-13 Annual National Accounts and quarterly accounts from the September quarter 2013. The total value of the dwelling stock series will be published as part of Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0) from the December quarter 2013.

4.3 Valuing the dwelling stock requires information on three things: the price of the dwellings, the number of dwellings in the stock and information on who owns the dwellings.

4.4 The scope of the value of the dwelling stock is restricted to dwellings where the primary purpose is residential (i.e. excluding commercial properties) regardless of ownership or tenure of the occupants (i.e. including government-owned properties and properties owned by private landlords).

4.5 Information on the price of dwellings is collected by the ABS from VGs.

4.6 One of the challenges in estimating the value of the dwelling stock is determining a representative price for all dwellings in the stock when price information is only available for dwellings sold in the reference period.

4.7 Price information from dwellings sold is used to infer the price of all the dwellings not sold during the period.

4.8 This is achieved by stratifying the stock based on the assumption that the major price determining characteristics of a dwelling are location (Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) (footnote 1) ) and dwelling characteristics (represented by dwelling type). This method ensures that sales in any region are only used to infer the value of other dwellings in the same region and of the same type. By stratifying in this way, the ABS is able to calculate a quarterly mean dwelling price by geographic area and by dwelling for all strata, and by consequence, the entire dwelling stock.

4.9 The Census of Population and Housing, conducted every five years, provides the number (and type) of dwellings in the stock at a detailed geographic level. Between Censuses, however, high quality information on the dwelling stock is only available on additions to the dwelling stock. Information on deductions from the stock is not readily available. To calculate a current period estimate of the number of dwellings, the net additions to the stock are estimated from information on gross additions (i.e. building completions data) and a modelled value of demolitions. The net additions estimate is then applied to the Census count data.

4.10 Historical gross additions to the stock and changes to the dwelling stock between Censuses are used to calculate a realisation rate. For example, if for every 100 residential dwellings completed or added to the dwelling stock there are 20 demolitions, then there is a net addition of 80 dwellings to the stock. This represents a realisation rate of 0.80.

4.11 To calculate net additions to the stock in an ongoing way, a realisation rate has been calculated at the State/Territory level for each of the last four Censuses and averaged. The choice to calculate this rate separately for each State/Territory reflects the different supply and demand factors experienced for construction of new dwellings.

4.12 Once the realisation rate has been calculated, the estimated number of dwellings in the stock each quarter is simply:

Census count of dwellings
plus (Completions times Realisation Rate).

4.13 The total figure in each state is then apportioned to each SA2 (based on the number of dwellings of each type at the last Census) so that there is a quarterly estimate of the number of dwellings in the stock (by dwelling type).

4.14 Not all residential dwellings in Australia are owned by households. Some (for example public housing) are owned by government, or by corporations (for example housing owned by mining companies). Table 2 shows the percentage of dwellings, by type, owned by the household sector.

4.15 Information on ownership of dwellings cannot be observed directly in the population, nor is it easily obtainable on every transfer that occurs. To overcome this, information on landlord and tenure type from the 2011 Census of Population and Housing is used as a proxy for ownership. This remains unchanged between Census periods.

4.16 A value of the dwelling stock can now be calculated as a price, dwelling count and ownership has been determined.

4.17 Each quarter the mean prices for each geographic area (SA2) are multiplied by an estimated number of dwellings (by dwelling type, for the same geographic area) to compile a total value of the dwelling stock. As the geographic areas (i.e. SA2s) easily aggregate up into larger geographies, this allows for the compilation of dwelling stock values at the state and national level.

4.18 However, the calculation of mean prices in the most recent two quarters using VGs data is likely to lead to volatile results. This is because of the time lag between the property price being determined and information received and processed by the VGs office and provided to the ABS.

4.19 Based on historical trends, the ABS estimates that it is not until the second quarter after the reference quarter that the majority of records from the VGs are received. It is known that the time lag between exchange and settlement is not evenly distributed across property prices, longer lags tend to be associated with more expensive properties. Because of this, using a mean value during the latest two quarters would bias the results.

4.20 To enable the timely publication of data on the value of the dwelling stock, the movements of the RPPI (at the capital city level) are used as a proxy for movements in the mean prices (at the state level) for the most recent two quarters. This results in the TVDS estimates being Preliminary in these periods and being Final in the third most recent quarter.

4.21 The ABS will be publishing the following data items quarterly (with a time series beginning in the September quarter 2011) from the December quarter 2013:

• Value of the dwelling stock owned by households, States and Territories ($ m);
• Value of the dwelling stock owned by non-households, States and Territories ($ m);
• Value of the dwelling stock owned by All Sectors, States and Territories ($ m);
• Number of residential dwellings, States and Territories ('000); and
• Mean price of residential dwellings, States and Territories ($'000).

4.22 Further breakdowns of the data will not be available.

4.23 The estimated total value of residential dwellings in Australia in the June quarter 2013 was $4,722 billion (up from $4,598 billion in the March quarter 2013). Of this, $4,472 billion was owned by households.

4.24 Over the same period, the number of residential dwellings in Australia rose from 9,193,300 to 9,230,400 (an increase of 0.4%, compared to a rise of 2.7% in the value).

4.25 The mean price of dwellings remains the highest in NSW at $583,400 followed by WA ($582,700) and the ACT ($563,800).

4.26 Further data can be found in Appendix 2: Total value of the dwelling stock data.

5.1 All changes outlined in this chapter will occur as part of the December quarter 2013 release of the Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0)

5.2 Currently the House Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0) is released approximately five weeks after the end of the reference period. From the December quarter 2013, the updated Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0) will be released six weeks after the end of the reference period in order to accommodate the new outputs.

5.3 Release dates for forthcoming issues are as follows:

• September quarter 2013 4 November 2013
• December quarter 2013 11 February 2014
• March quarter 2014 13 May 2014
• June quarter 2014 12 August 2014
   

5.4 The key figures and key points highlighted on the front cover of the publication will relate to the aggregated RPPI and the TVDS.

5.5 The ABS will expand the output for median price and transfer counts of established houses for capital cities to include attached dwellings.

5.6 Additional outputs for median price and transfer counts for the balance of state for established houses and attached dwellings will be included in a time series spreadsheet as a part of Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0) published on the website www.abs.gov.au.

5.7 The ABS will cease to publish the following outputs that are currently available in Tables 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the current publication:

• Project homes;
• Input to the house construction industry;
• Construction industry total hourly rates of pay; and
• National accounts private housing investment.

5.8 The Project Homes price index is published in Consumer Price Index, Australia (cat. no. 6401.0) in Tables 7 and 11 of the time series spreadsheets as a component of ‘New dwelling purchase by owner-occupiers’.

5.9 The Input to House Construction industry is published in Producer Price Indexes, Australia (cat. no. 6427.0) in Table 18 of the time series spreadsheet.

5.10 The Construction Industry Total hourly rates of pay is published in Wage Price Index, Australia (cat. no. 6345.0) in Table 5b of the time series spreadsheet.

5.11 National Accounts Private Housing Investment will no longer be regularly published by the ABS but will be available upon request.

5.12 The current HPI benchmark series which is based on the complete, or near complete, VGs dataset is not revised. The benchmark series for the ADPI, HPI and RPPI will be referred to as the Final series. Index series for the two most recent quarters will continue to be referred to as the leading indicator series.

5.13 The stratification approach used in the HPI separates the total sample of residential properties into a number of sub-samples or groups based on similar characteristics. These groupings have previously been referred to as ‘clusters’; they will now be termed ‘strata’ or 'stratum'.

5.14 Examples of the revised table formats are available in Appendix 3: Sample Publication Tables.

5.15 The tables that will be published in Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0) from the December quarter 2013 are as follows:

• Table 1. Residential Property Price Index, index numbers and percentage changes;
• Table 2. Established House Price Index, index numbers and percentage changes;
• Table 3. Attached Dwellings Price Index, index numbers and percentage changes;
• Table 4. Median Price of Capital City Transfers (unstratified);
• Table 5. Number of Capital City Transfers;
• Table 6. Value of the Dwelling Stock; and
• Table 7: Revisions to the Residential Property Price Index.
   

5.16 The time series spreadsheets that will be published from the December quarter 2013 in Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0) are listed below. Examples of the time series spreadsheets including the Series IDs will be available on the ABS website www.abs.gov.au in the Data downloads section of this publication. See Appendix 4 for a concordance of Series IDs and Table numbers.

• Table 1. Residential Property Price Index, index numbers and percentage changes;
• Table 2. Established House Price Index, index numbers and percentage changes;
• Table 3. Attached Dwellings Price Index, index numbers and percentage changes;
• Table 4 and 5. Median Price (unstratified) and Number of Transfers (Capital City and Balance of State);
• Table 6. Value of the Dwelling Stock;
• Table 7. Revisions to the Index series;
• Table 8. All Index Numbers; and
• Table 9. Established House Price Index, Index Numbers, Pre-September Quarter 2005 Methodology.

6.1 The changes outlined in this information paper will be published in Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0), from the December quarter 2013.

6.2 The geographic scope of the HPI and the ADPI is currently restricted to the eight Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSA). According to 2011 Census data, 37.7% of all occupied private dwellings in Australia are located in the balance of state. Development of indexes covering areas outside the GCCSAs is continuing. The provision of balance of state indexes remains a longer term objective of the ABS and is subject to available funding.

6.3 An updated edition of House Price Indexes: Concepts, Sources and Methods, Australia, 2009 (cat. no. 6464.0) covering changes outlined in this information paper is planned for release in the second half of 2014.

The ABS welcomes any comments on the content of this paper.

Queries or comments can be addressed to:

Mr. Neel Tikaram
Assistant Director
Prices Branch
GPO Box 796
Sydney NSW 2001
Telephone: (02) 9268 4792
Email: house.prices@abs.gov.au

This release previously used catalogue number 6416.0.55.002.