Colombo District Land Price Index shows 16-pct increase despite rebasing

Oct 26, 2018 (LBO) – Land prices in the Colombo District during the first half of this year has recorded an increase of 16.3 percent compared to the first half of last year, despite the Central Bank rebased its index.

Central Bank said they revised the base period of the index from 1998 to the first half of 2017 to accommodate the recent expansion in the real estate sector. According to data released by the Central Bank, the rebased land price index for the Colombo District reached 116.3 during the first half of this year. Before the rebasing exercise, the Land Price Index recorded a 12.6 percent increase for the period ending June 2017, continuing the trend in land price movements in the district. Statistics Department of the Central Bank also computes three sub-indices for residential, commercial and industrial lands using per perch bare land prices collected from the Government Valuation Department. Accordingly, for the first half of this year residential segment recorded a 16.5 percent growth while commercial segment recording a 16.8 percent growth and industrial segment recording a 15.

8 percent increase. The overall Land Price Index is computed by taking the average of these three sub-indices.