Housing Price Index

Housing Price Index

Subject: Economy

Context

During the first quarter of 2022-23, the pricing index for homes in India went up by 3.5 per cent year-on-year, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed.

Details:

• Housing prices rose in 42 cities in the first quarter of 2022-23, while the rates of residential units fell in five cities and remained stable in three cities, according to the price index Residex released by NHB.
• On an all-India basis, the house price index expanded sequentially by 2.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2022-23.
• There was sequential contraction of the index for Delhi, Kolkata and Jaipur. Apart from these three cities, all other cities saw the index expanding.
• The overall increase in composite HPI at Assessment Price and HPI at Market Price is an indication of reviving the housing demand and rising cost of production.

Concept:

Housing Price Index:

• The all-India house price index (HPI) is a quarterly release done by the Reserve Bank of India Base Year- 2010-11.
• It is based on transaction-level data obtained from the housing registration authorities in 10 major cities in the country.
• The cities are: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Mumbai.

NHB RESIDEX:

• By the National Housing Bank (NHB) undertaken at the behest of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
  • The National Housing Bank (NHB) was established under the National Housing Bank Act of 1987 by the Government of India. Previously, NHB was considered a functional unit of RBI.
• The index was formulated under the guidance of a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) composed of stakeholders from the housing market.
• It  is a set of benchmarks that aims to track housing price indicators across Indian cities.
• Originally flagged off in July 2007, the index was discontinued in 2015
• It was refurbished and re-introduced with effect to 2018 with:
  • enhanced city coverage (rising from 26 to 50, to be eventually raised to 100),
  • a new base year (2012-13) and
  • new data sources (with data from banks and home finance companies and market surveys).
• The NHB Residex currently offers two sets of quarterly Housing Price Indices (HPIs) across the cities it tracks.
  • List prices of under-construction property, collated through a survey of developers, are captured in– the Market HPI. 
  • Data reported by banks and finance companies that extend home loans, is collated into – the Assessment HPI.