Unfortunately, one of the analysts made several inaccurate statements about the technical aspects of SRX HDB indices versus that of HDB stat board in an ST story by Janice Heng and a BT story by Lee Meixian on 8 Jul 2016.
Here is a link to ST Digital that shows the correction.
http://www.straitstimes.com/
Correction:-
While we respect Mr. Eugene Lim of ERA's expert analysis on property markets, he made two technical and factual errors in his assessment of SRX Property’s HDB data. We would like to correct the record.
First, contrary to Mr. Lim’s statement, SRX Property figures are based on the most real-time and comprehensive property transaction data available and do include do-it-yourself transactions in HDB.
Details: SRX price index for HDB sources data from public HDB transactions (https://services2.hdb.gov.sg/
Second, SRX figures are based on monthly changes while HDB flash reports are based on quarterly changes. Mr Lim employed the wrong methodology to approximate the quarterly change from SRX’s monthly figures. This gave rise to the erroneous 0.4% quarterly drop that was reported.
Details: The HDB price index reflected a 0.1% increase in 2016Q2 over 2016Q1. A meaningful comparison with SRX price index would require one to compute the average of Quarter 1 (Jan - Mar) with the average of Quarter 2 (Apr - Jun). Unfortunately, Mr. Lim obtained the 0.4% drop by simply calculating the difference between Apr and Jun, neglecting the Jan - Mar periods.
The correct calculation using SRX's price index would show a 0.1% change between Quarter 1 (135.53) and Quarter 2 (135.33).
When one employs the right methodology for comparison, both HDB and SRX figures would be similar but not exact, since no conversion from a monthly methodology to that of a quarterly is perfect.
Moreover, HDB flash figures may not take into account all of June’s transactions while SRX’s figures do. Therefore, it would be more appropriate to convert SRX Property’s monthly figures to quarterly and compare to that of HDB after the latter releases its full report in a few weeks’ time. By following a monthly reporting, SRX figures are more real-time than that of HDB’s quarterly flash report.
Details: If we take the average of SRX's price index for HDB between Jan - Mar (Q1) and compare with the average of Apr - May (Q2, ignoring June as HDB might not have factored all of June's transactions in the Flash), SRX would have reflected a small 0.012% increase, similar to HDB's price index of a small 0.1% increase. The slight discrepancy could be due to imperfect monthly to quarterly conversion, and that HDB might have used some transactions in June for its calculations.
Jeremy Lee
Chief Technology Officer
SRX Property
www.srx.com.sg
Here is a link to ST Digital that shows the correction.
http://www.straitstimes.com/
Correction:-
While we respect Mr. Eugene Lim of ERA's expert analysis on property markets, he made two technical and factual errors in his assessment of SRX Property’s HDB data. We would like to correct the record.
First, contrary to Mr. Lim’s statement, SRX Property figures are based on the most real-time and comprehensive property transaction data available and do include do-it-yourself transactions in HDB.
Details: SRX price index for HDB sources data from public HDB transactions (https://services2.hdb.gov.sg/
Second, SRX figures are based on monthly changes while HDB flash reports are based on quarterly changes. Mr Lim employed the wrong methodology to approximate the quarterly change from SRX’s monthly figures. This gave rise to the erroneous 0.4% quarterly drop that was reported.
Details: The HDB price index reflected a 0.1% increase in 2016Q2 over 2016Q1. A meaningful comparison with SRX price index would require one to compute the average of Quarter 1 (Jan - Mar) with the average of Quarter 2 (Apr - Jun). Unfortunately, Mr. Lim obtained the 0.4% drop by simply calculating the difference between Apr and Jun, neglecting the Jan - Mar periods.
The correct calculation using SRX's price index would show a 0.1% change between Quarter 1 (135.53) and Quarter 2 (135.33).
When one employs the right methodology for comparison, both HDB and SRX figures would be similar but not exact, since no conversion from a monthly methodology to that of a quarterly is perfect.
Moreover, HDB flash figures may not take into account all of June’s transactions while SRX’s figures do. Therefore, it would be more appropriate to convert SRX Property’s monthly figures to quarterly and compare to that of HDB after the latter releases its full report in a few weeks’ time. By following a monthly reporting, SRX figures are more real-time than that of HDB’s quarterly flash report.
Details: If we take the average of SRX's price index for HDB between Jan - Mar (Q1) and compare with the average of Apr - May (Q2, ignoring June as HDB might not have factored all of June's transactions in the Flash), SRX would have reflected a small 0.012% increase, similar to HDB's price index of a small 0.1% increase. The slight discrepancy could be due to imperfect monthly to quarterly conversion, and that HDB might have used some transactions in June for its calculations.
Jeremy Lee
Chief Technology Officer
SRX Property
www.srx.com.sg