Finance of housing companies: documentation of statistics
Basic data of the statistics
Data description
Statistical population
Statistical unit
Unit of measure
Reference period
Only the housing companies with an accounting period lasting 12 months are included in the statistics. The data in the publication may partly be preliminary financial statement data.
Reference area
Sector coverage
The sampling frame of the statistics on the finance of housing companies comprises the housing companies in which the total floor area of the dwellings, as defined in the real estate register, is at least 700 m2 (blocks of flats) or at least 500 m2 (terraced houses). Approximately 43,000 housing companies remain in the actual sampling frame (in 2019) and from this, around 3,200 companies are selected to the sample using simple stratified random sampling. Thus, the sample has a coverage of approximately four per cent of the population and seven per cent of the sampling frame. The sample is drawn from the real estate register of the Finnish Tax Administration.
Time coverage
Frequency of dissemination
Concepts
Appropriations
Charge for common capital expenditures
Charge for common expenses
Cubic capacity of a building
Financial statements
Floor area
Housing company
Income from real estate
Maintenance charge
Real estate
Real estate maintenance costs
Type of building
Type of financing
A government-subsidised dwelling is a dwelling produced with government ARAVA loans, in which the rent is determined by the cost correlation principle. Most of government-subsidised dwellings are owned by municipalities.
Non-subsidised dwellings are other than government-subsidised dwellings.
Year of construction
Accuracy, reliability and timeliness
Overall accuracy
The data of the statistics are based on euro-denominated financial statements of housing companies. There may be reporting errors in the data collection, but in connection with the validation, the aim is to correct erroneous data or remove clearly deviating observations.
The financial statements of housing companies do not directly contain itemised data on the breakdown of renovation building costs between annual repairs and renovations. In the statistics, the number of annual repairs is estimated by deducting capitalisations in the balance sheet from renovation costs.
Timeliness
Punctuality
Comparability
Comparability - geographical
Comparability - over time
The structure of the sample used in the statistics on the finance of housing companies was changed for 2009 so that for terraced houses, the minimum floor area was lowered from 700 to 500 m2. In the same connection, the share of the rotated sample drawn in 2010 increased exceptionally to 53 per cent of the sample. The change may have had a slight effect on the breakdown of expenditure items in the profit and loss accounts for terraced houses.
Coherence - cross domain
Coherence - internal
Source data and data collections
Source data
Data collection
Frequency of data collection
Methods
Data compilation
Geometric averages of the management charges and water charges are calculated for the Consumer Price Index, and they are summed up by region. The annual change from the previous year’s data is formed from these.
After the validation, weighting coefficients are created for the strata for calculation of averages for the statistics on the finance of housing companies. The averages of the profit and loss account items are calculated in accordance with different classifications and limitations.
Data validation
For the statistical release, the final sums of the profit and loss account are compared with the reported and imputed data, which must match. Erroneously entered items are located and corrected, if possible, utilising the notes to the financial statements. Concerning repair expenses, excluded are such observations where the repair expenses per square metre are exceptionally high.
It is also checked that floor area data for the housing company are not missing or reported incorrectly. The floor area of the housing company buildings must be reasonably divided between premises owned by shareholders and the housing company. Over half of the total floor area of the dwellings in the housing companies is specified in the articles of association as residential apartments in the possession of shareholders.
Principles and outlines
Contact organisation
Contact organisation unit
Legal acts and other agreements
The compilation of statistics is guided by the Statistics Act. The Statistics Act contains provisions on collection of data, processing of data and the obligation to provide data. Besides the Statistics Act, the Data Protection Act and the Act on the Openness of Government Activities are applied to processing of data when producing statistics.
Statistics Finland compiles statistics in line with the EU’s regulations applicable to statistics, which steer the statistical agencies of all EU Member States.
Further information: Statistical legislation
Confidentiality - policy
The data protection of data collected for statistical purposes is guaranteed in accordance with the requirements of the Statistics Act (280/2004), the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and the Data Protection Act (1050/2018). The data materials are protected at all stages of processing with the necessary physical and technical solutions. Statistics Finland has compiled detailed directions and instructions for confidential processing of the data. Employees have access only to the data essential for their duties. The premises where unit-level data are processed are not accessible to outsiders. Members of the personnel have signed a pledge of secrecy upon entering the service. Violation of data protection is punishable.
Further information: Data protection | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)
Confidentiality - data treatment
The statistics on housing prices comply with active data protection. The aim of data protection for the statistics on housing prices is that the sales price or rent of an individual dwelling or financial statement data of an individual housing company cannot be deduced from the figures published by Statistics Finland. Individual data suppliers cannot be identified from the published data.
Release policy
Statistics Finland publishes new statistical data at 8 am on weekdays in its web service. The release times of statistics are given in advance in the release calendar available in the web service. The data are public after they have been updated in the web service.
Further information: Publication principles for statistics at Statistics Finland
Data sharing
Accessibility and clarity
Statistical data are published as database tables in the StatFin database. The database is the primary publishing site of data, and new data are updated first there. When releasing statistical data, existing database tables can be updated with new data or completely new database tables can be published.
In addition to statistical data published in the StatFin database, a release on the key data is usually published in the web service. If the release contains data concerning several reference periods (e.g. monthly and annual data), a review bringing together these data is published in the web service. Database tables updated at the time of publication are listed both in the release and in the review. In some cases, statistical data can also be published as mere database releases in the StatFin database. No release or review is published in connection with these database releases.
Releases and database tables are published in three languages, in Finnish, Swedish and English. The language versions of releases may have more limited content than in Finnish.
Information about changes in the publication schedules of releases and database tables and about corrections are given as change releases in the web service.
Data revision - policy
Revisions – i.e. improvements in the accuracy of statistical data already published – are a normal feature of statistical production and result in improved quality of statistics. The principle is that statistical data are based on the best available data and information concerning the statistical phenomenon. On the other hand, the revisions are communicated as transparently as possible in advance. Advance communication ensures that the users can prepare for the data revisions.
The reason why data in statistical releases become revised is often caused by the data becoming supplemented. Then the new, revised statistical figure is based on a wider information basis and describes the phenomenon more accurately than before.
Revisions of statistical data may also be caused by the calculation method used, such as annual benchmarking or updating of weight structures. Changes of base years and used classifications may also cause revisions to data.
Quality assessment
Quality assurance
Quality management requires comprehensive guidance of activities. The quality management framework of the field of statistics is the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP). The frameworks complement each other. The quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are also compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice.
Further information: Quality management | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)
User access
Data are released to all users at the same time. Statistical data may only be handled at Statistics Finland and information on them may be given before release only by persons involved in the production of the statistics concerned or who need the data of the statistics concerned in their own work before the data are published.
Further information: Publication principles for statistics
Unless otherwise separately stated in connection with the product, data or service concerned, Statistics Finland is the producer of the data and the owner of the copyright. The terms of use for statistical data.
Are you looking for previously published documentation?
The documentation released before 5.4.2022 can be found on the archive pages of the statistics.
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