OECD: "National-Level Housing Price Statistics Are Useless... Regional Price Indices Need to Be Developed"

OECD Statistics Policy Committee

Ryu Geun-gwan, Commissioner of the Korea National Statistical Office, is attending the OECD Statistical Policy Committee held via video conference on the 21st (Korean time). (Photo by Korea National Statistical Office)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) stated on the 21st (Korean time) that "Statistics on nationwide housing price indices alone cannot provide useful information necessary for establishing effective housing policies," and emphasized "the need to improve and develop regional price indices and price level statistics, as well as the role of the central statistical agency in ensuring consistency between the two statistics," according to the Korea National Statistical Office (KOSTAT).

According to KOSTAT, the OECD made this recommendation at the 18th Statistical Policy Committee held via video conference on the same day. The OECD Statistical Policy Committee is the highest-level annual meeting in the statistics sector, attended by heads of statistics from 37 member countries, where decisions are made on data collection and analysis methodologies for advancing global policy issues. The meeting lasts for three days. Korea was represented by KOSTAT Commissioner Ryu Geun-gwan.

In response to the OECD’s recommendation, KOSTAT stated, "We will continue efforts to improve the quality of regional housing price index statistics currently being compiled and to develop price level statistics."

In this meeting, discussions are also scheduled on topics such as child well-being measurement and data innovation after COVID-19 recovery, in addition to housing prices.

Regarding child well-being measurement, heads of statistical agencies from various countries pointed out the lack of statistics necessary for child welfare policies and discussed ways to produce high-quality statistics that allow international comparisons in areas such as child-centered family structure, housing environment, and time use.

Additionally, in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Committee of Experts on Statistical Data and Metadata (UNECE-CES), a session titled "Data Innovation for COVID-19 Recovery Preparedness" will be held to share experiences on new data approaches and work method reforms in response to the COVID-19 crisis, and to discuss data innovation strategies for the post-COVID-19 era.

Commissioner Ryu plans to introduce KOSTAT’s ongoing initiatives, including the establishment of the K-Statistics System to maximize the value of public data, the Nowcast portal for rapid provision of timely indicators, and the integrated management system for non-face-to-face surveys to improve the non-face-to-face survey environment.

Commissioner Ryu said, "COVID-19 was an opportunity to innovate statistical work procedures to quickly provide reliable statistics so that the government can make timely decisions in urgent situations," and added, "We will strive to provide data and advance statistics for responding to the post-COVID-19 era through continuous cooperation with the international statistical community."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.