Content
About the statistics
Definitions
-
Name and topic
-
Name: Rent and area statistics for office space (discontinued)
Topic: Construction, housing and property
-
Responsible division
-
Division for Construction and Service
-
Definitions of the main concepts and variables
-
Definition of the main terms
Type of building is established according to function, combined buildings, for instance combined dwelling and business buildings, are grouped by the function that occupies the main part of the utility floor space.
Definition of the main variables
Rental income is the total annual rental income lessors receive from lessees. The rental income is based on data given by the owners of the office premises. A respondent may have given information about a section, a building or several buildings. Rental income thus covers total rental income for the relevant sections and buildings. The annual rental income is given excluding common costs for rented out office space.
The total floor area of a building is the total floor area of all floor levels, defined in Norwegian Standard NS 3940 Area and volume calculations of buildings.
-
Standard classifications
-
2 geographical zones:
- Oslo and Bærum
- Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim and Tromsø
Administrative information
-
Regional level
-
2 geographical zones:
- Oslo and Bærum
- Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim and Tromsø.
-
Frequency and timeliness
-
Bi-annually. The statistics are published about 3 months after the date of observation: 1 January and 1 July.
-
International reporting
-
Not relevant
-
Microdata
-
Data at the building/section level are stored as text files on UNIX.
Other documentation
Thomassen, A. og Tørstad, T. (1996): Prisstatistikk for næringseiendommer , Rapporter 96/21. (In Norwegian only)
Background
-
Background and purpose
-
The purpose is to measure price changes in office rental rates together with the change in the percentage of available office space in seven of Norway's municipalities. The statistics have been published since 1997.
-
Users and applications
-
The statistics are used by the Ministry of Finance, the Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission and Norwegian Houseowners' Association, which provided the financial support for carrying out a trial project for this type of statistic in 1995.
-
Coherence with other statistics
-
Not relevant
-
Legal authority
-
The Statistics Act, Sections 2-2 and 3-2
-
EEA reference
-
Not relevant
Production
-
Population
-
The population is all office premises in office and administration buildings in the municipalities of Bærum, Oslo, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim and Tromsø. The observation unit is building/section.
-
Data sources and sampling
-
The data for computing the statistics are obtained from two different sources: the Ground Property, Address and Building Register (GAB), and a quarterly survey.
The owner of GAB is the Ministry of Environment, with the Norwegian Mapping Authority professionally responsible. The County Mapping Offices administrate the register system in the districts and together with each of the municipalities, they are responsible for entering the data.
Business Development Consulting AS (BDC) runs the register, and the municipalities provide the necessary information for the B register, based on data supplied by the investors and authorities.
All owners of buildings/sections of building type 41, Office and administration building (incl. public buildings) in the GAB receive a form with questions about rental income and the area of their offices. Some of these owners have said they do not have offices in the building/section or that the offices are not rented out. Offices in other types of buildings are not included. The sample is updated yearly with new office and administration buildings.
-
Collection of data, editing and estimations
-
Postal questionnaires. The form is distributed as soon as possible after 1 January and 1 July of each year. The deadline for responding is just three weeks from mail out. Respondents are owners of the building/section that contains offices.
Reporting and recordkeeping burden
Estimated time usage for each respondent filling out and returning the questionnaire on paper is about 30 minutes twice a year, equivalent to a total of 300 hours or 38 workdays a year for all respondents.
All buildings/sections in which the percentage change in annual rental income per square metre is large in relation to the previous half year or basis half year, is checked by contacting the owner of the building/section by phone.
The index for annual rental income per square metre of rented office space is calculated by comparing the average annual rental income per square metre of rented office space for buildings/sections that are included in the sample both during the basis half year and during the relevant statistical half year. The index is a chained index with new every year. In calculating the percentage of available office space the total available office space is divided by the total office space of each of the two zones.
-
Confidentiality
-
Not relevant
-
Comparability over time and space
-
Not relevant
Accuracy and reliability
-
Sources of error and uncertainty
-
It can happen that respondents misunderstand one or more of the questions on the form. The forms are read optically with automatic verification and transfer to electronic storage. Errors can occur in optical reading, particularly when reading figures consisting of many numbers. Many of these errors are corrected by having all buildings/sections in which the percentage change in annual rental income per square metre is large in comparison to the previous half year or basis half year, checked by contacting the owner of the building/section by phone. Machine checks ensure that buildings/sections with square metre prices under 500 kroner or more than 4 000 kroner are not included in the calculations. This values are adjusted yearly by index for anual rental income.
Since there is no information on rental income and floor area for all office premises, there is both sample variance and skewness. The sample variance and skewness are not estimated.
In form-based surveys, such as rental and area statistics for office premises, there will always be a certain amount of non-response because some respondents do not return the forms or return them incompletely filled out. The variations in the index estimates due to this are called non-response errors. At the end of the expiration of the deadline the response rate was about 50 per cent. Following reminders the response rate is about 80 per cent. Variance or skewness due to this nonresponse is not calculated.