Land prices grow 16.3% in 1H: CB

Friday, 26 October 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Land prices continued to expand in 2018 growing 16.3% in the first half compared to the same period last year, latest data released by the Central Bank showed yesterday.

The rebased Land Price Index for the Colombo District, reached 116.3 during the 1st half of 2018, recording an increase of 16.3% compared to the first half of 2017. All sub-indices of LPI, namely Residential LPI, Commercial LPI and Industrial LPI contributed to this increase.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) compiles and analyses several indicators, in order to monitor the developments in the real estate sector. Accordingly, the Land Price Index (LPI) (base year: 1998) has been compiled annually from 1998-2008 and bi-annually from 2009-2017, covering 50 centres of five DS divisions in the Colombo District. With the increasing importance of monitoring land prices due to the recent developments in the real estate sector, the geographical coverage of LPI was expanded to 82 centres covering all DS divisions in the Colombo District and revised its base period from 1998 to 1st half of 2017 to accommodate this expansion.

The LPI with improved coverage is available biannually from 2017 onwards.

Colombo, Thimbirigasyaya, Dehiwala, Ratmalana, Kesbewa, Homagama, Padukka and Seethawaka are included in the survey.

In view of the diverse nature of the land use and to maintain homogeneity, three sub-indices for residential, commercial and industrial lands are computed separately, using per perch bare land prices collected from the Government Valuation Department. The overall LPI is computed by taking the average of these three sub-indices.