Building and dwelling production: documentation of statistics
Basic data of the statistics
Data description
Newbuilding refers to construction subject to building permits, which results in a new building, new space in connection with an existing building or a change comparable to reconstruction.
Statistical population
Statistical unit
Unit of measure
Base period
Reference period
Reference area
Sector coverage
01 Residential buildings
02 Free-time residential buildings
03 Commercial buildings
04 Office buildings
05 Transport and communications buildings
06 Buildings for institutional care
07 Assembly buildings
08 Educational buildings
09 Industrial and mining and quarrying buildings
10 Energy supply buildings
11 Public utility buildings
12 Warehouses
13 Rescue service buildings
14 Agricultural buildings and livestock shelters
19 Other buildings
Time coverage
Frequency of dissemination
Concepts
Building
Caves and other subterranean spaces which are mainly enclosed within rock or similar walls and/or which do not contain structures comparable to the interior structures of buildings proper, for example underground oil tanks, are not buildings.
Stalls, kiosks, etc. that do not contain space separated by closed walls, and transportable caravans, ships, etc. are not classified as buildings.
The building stock statistics do not include:
- free-time residences
- buildings intended for storing liquids
- buildings used only in agricultural production
- sauna buildings belonging to residential buildings
- outhouses of residential buildings
- buildings entirely controlled by foreign missions
- buildings of the Armed Forces
- air raid shelters
except in cases where such buildings are occupied or contain business premises.
The data on buildings come from the Population Information System of the Population Register Centre.
Building material
- concrete, light concrete
- brick
- steel
- wood
- other, unknown.
Cubic capacity of a building
Dwelling
Intended use of building
- residential buildings
- free-time residential buildings
- commercial buildings
- office buildings
- transport and communications buildings
- buildings for institutional care
- assembly buildings
- educational buildings
- industrial and mining and quarrying buildings
- energy supply buildings
- public utility buildings
- warehouses
- rescue services buildings
- agricultural buildings and livestock shelters
- other buildings.
The classification of the intended use of buildings is given in Statistics Finland's Handbook Classification of Buildings 2018. Not all the classes in the building classification are included in the Statitics Finland's building stock.
Type of building
- Detached houses: residential buildings containing 1 to 2 dwellings, including semi-detached houses and other comparable detached residential buildings (e.g. permanently occupied free-time residences)
- Terraced houses: residential buildings with at least three adjoining dwellings
- Blocks of flats: residential buildings of at least three dwellings in which at least two dwellings are located on top of each other and which do not belong to the previous categories
- Other buildings: also includes buildings whose type is unknown.
Classifications
Accuracy, reliability and timeliness
Overall accuracy
Due to the slow accumulation of notices of building starts, the actual number of building projects started is estimated using the number of known starts. This is done with a statistical regression model, which aims to get closer to the actual number of building projects started. The inflating coefficients used in the model are updated annually.
In the inflating method of starts data, the approximation estimated by the model of the actual number of projects started is compared with the current data on building projects started. The difference between these is an estimate of the number of building projects that have not yet been reported to the Digital and Population Data Agency. Projects started are drawn from building permits not started according to that difference. The monthly inflating process of starts is fully automated.
The estimation of starts data is made monthly for the latest 24 months. Data older than that are not estimated. Building permits not started taking part in the draw are limited so that building projects of over 50,000 cubic metres are excluded. In addition, building projects with large numbers of dwellings are not included in the draw starting from September 2024. When setting parameters for the estimation model, the reported known starts data are used. The accuracy of the estimation of starts is influenced only by the cumulative rate of start data and its annual random variation. Estimated starts data are used in the calculation of the volume index of newbuilding. To improve the completion data of building projects, notices of moves are utilised in the compilation of statistics. Construction projects are combined by means of building codes to the Digital and Population Data Agency's data on moves and the building is classified as completed if it is occupied.
Timeliness and punctuality
Timeliness
Punctuality
Completeness
Data revision
Data revision - practice
Sampling error
Due to the total data, there is no random variation caused by the sampling of the estimator.
Non-sampling error
Coverage error
There is no over-coverage in the statistics on building and dwelling production.
The total number of units in the statistics on building and dwelling production is included both in the data collection of the statistics and in administrative sources.
Measurement error
Processing error
Comparability
Comparability - geographical
The statistics on building and dwelling production do not include comparisons between countries.
Comparability - over time
From 1995 to the beginning of June 2020, the statistics on building and dwelling production have had 303 reference periods. The volume index of newbuilding, which is included in the statistics and has the base period 2015, has had 243 reference periods starting from the year 2000. From the beginning of 2015, the number of directly comparable reference periods for the set of statistics is 63.
Coherence - cross domain
Coherence - sub-annual and annual statistics
Coherence -national accounts
Source data and data collections
Source data
Data collection
Frequency of data collection
Cost and burden
Methods
Statistical processing
Data compilation
The basis for the calculation of the volume index of newbuilding is to estimate the value of the building started at base year prices by means of the characteristics data of the building and to stratify the estimated value over the expected building period. The estimation of the expected building period is based on a model developed for this purpose. The time of construction and the time of completion are determined on the basis of the estimated imputed construction period and not according to the completion time in the register. This method essentially improves the ability of the volume index to monitor economic cycles. The volume of newbuilding in the examined period is derived by adding up the value shares of all buildings under construction for this period at base year prices. When this value is proportioned to the corresponding value of the corresponding period in the base year, the result is the volume index.
No imputation is connected to the statistics on building and dwelling production.
Data validation
Seasonal adjustment
Documentation on methodology
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.
The production and data content of the statistics on building and dwelling production are governed by Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 concerning short-term statistics and Commission Regulation No 588/2001 as regards the definition of variables.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
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
Other
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.
Micro-data access
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.
Seasonally adjusted data in statistics on economic trends become revised because of the calculation method used. Additional information on a new time series observation is exploited in model-based calculation methods and this is reflected as changes in previous releases. Revisions of the latest figures to be seasonally adjusted are elaborated on in the releases and quality reports of statistics.
A summary table of the revisions that have taken place is also published in connection with key statistics on economic trends and some annual statistics. The table shows how the data for the statistical reference periods have changed between the first and the most recent statistical release.
The data of the statistics on building and dwelling production are based on data reported by municipalities on the construction stages of granted building permits. Data reported by municipalities are accumulated at a delay to the Digital and Population Data Agency. The statistics on building and dwelling production become revised most during approximately 12 months from the first release.User needs
Building production data can be used to examine the state and development of construction in the whole country and by area. The data are particularly suitable for assessing the economic situation. By means of building production data, the examination of economic development can be deepened and defined by focusing on different types of buildings or regional data.
User satisfaction
Quality documentation
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 quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice.
Further information: Quality management | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)
The statistics on building and dwelling production are official statistics. The Official Statistics of Finland (OSF) are a comprehensive collection of statistics describing the development and state of society. They comprise nearly 300 sets of statistics on 26 different topics. The producers of Official Statistics of Finland have approved a common quality assurance in which they commit to common quality criteria and quality assurance measures. The good practices followed in the statistics are presented in Statistics Finland's Quality Guidelines for Official Statistics handbook.
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.