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A useful instrument to understand and examine the inner workings of the property trade is devising index numbers of property prices based on historical sequences of market prices. The present work aims at the definition of index numbers of property prices, proposing an innovative methodology compared with what usually recurs in literature. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these issues.

The analysis proposed, based on the mechanisms of formation of stock indices, investigates the analogies between stock and property information, according to the peculiarities of the property trade, leading to a methodology approach, derived from Simple Price Index Method, able to consider possible anomalies in the collected sample of purchase prices, using weighting coefficients based on reliability coefficients of sale prices of properties.

The novel approach proposed has led to the definition of a original methodology useful to appraise property price index numbers and other derived indicators, effective for interpreting and identifying real estate market dynamics in a given area of study, regarded as a standard estimating methodology applicable to any geographical context and kind of property.

Methodology proposed in this work is useful to revalue real estate sales price and to consider presence of anomalous sales price in property samples.

The calculation of index numbers of prices is usually based on Simple Price Index Methods. Literature shows large use of different methods, such as Repeat Sales Method, Hedonic Price Method, Repeat Value Model. The present work propose an innovative methodology able to detect the presence of possible anomalous market prices in the representative sample, using an appropriate vector of weights in order to take into account the level of reliability of market data.

The theoretical base for cost‐of‐living comparisons between geographical areas is examined and developed. The interpretation of bilateral comparisons is discussed within a framework of a matrix of cost‐of‐living comparisons with all countries being listed in both columns and rows. The use of multilateral comparisons is questioned.

The paper aims to describe, construct, and compare alternative price indices for real estate in Malta over the period 1980‐2010.

The paper utilises the technique of hedonic regression analysis to construct four hedonic price indices. One of the constructed indices is based the unconstrained hedonic methodology. Two other indices are variants of the constrained hedonic technique, while the fourth consists of an imputed hedonic index. The hedonic indices are then compared to other 12 conventional indices, namely the Laspeyres, Paasche and Fisher indices (constant weight and chain linked) that are constructed by utilizing the mean and median house prices pertaining to 14 different types of houses.

All indices are found to move closely together, growing between six and seven times between 1980 and 2010. The average annual compound growth rate of the 16 indices was found to be 6.5126 percent. The paper also shows how the estimated hedonic coefficients can be used to construct regional price indices for different combinations of housing characteristics.

The paper builds on previous work related to house prices in Malta. Its main contribution is the construction of hedonic indices that are based on advertised prices that span over a relatively long period of 31 years, together with the construction of constant weight and chain linked Laspeyres, Paasche and Fisher indices.