Housing Price Index Guide
Core point
A housing price index measures price change over time; it does not value a specific apartment.
How to verify it
Choose the relevant TCMB series, geography and period and distinguish nominal from real change when measuring purchasing power rather than cash price alone.
Decision impact
Use the index for market trend or time adjustment, then use local comparables to value the individual unit.
A housing price index measures price change over time; it does not value a specific apartment.
Use the index for market trend or time adjustment, then use local comparables to value the individual unit.
Reading a housing price index without turning it into an appraisal
First choose the relevant TCMB geography and period, then identify whether the measure is monthly or annual and whether the analysis is nominal or adjusted for purchasing power. An index captures broad market movement; it does not know a particular unit’s renovation, floor, view or title restrictions. Use it to describe trend or provide a time context for comparables while the individual value remains supported by appropriate local market evidence.
If the base year, methodology or published series is revised, retain the version and download date and do not combine differently defined observations without a documented bridge. Keep TÜİK transaction counts separate from the price index; more sales do not mechanically mean higher prices. A good report names the series, geography, period and source and avoids the shortcut “the index rose, therefore this apartment is worth X” without independent comparable analysis.
A housing index is context, not an apartment-pricing machine
Before using a series read its definition, geographic coverage, base period and revision method and align the observation date to the decision. Index movement can reflect a broad basket unlike the subject unit in age, quality or micro-location. It can help time-adjust an older market comparison or test the direction of a local valuation, but property pricing still requires property-specific evidence. When comparing nominal property return with inflation, keep periods and calculation method consistent rather than mechanically subtracting one published percentage from another.
A house-price index describes movement in a defined market or region; it is not an appraisal of the exact apartment. Record the geography, observation period, series version and base, and distinguish nominal from real change before applying it to an investment comparison.
An index increase should not be converted directly into the price of one unit. The series measures an aggregated market segment and does not by itself capture floor, view, legal status, condition or refurbishment of the subject property. Use closer transaction evidence or an appropriate appraisal for the unit, while using the index to describe market direction and timing.
Market data is useful only when its source, date, geography and method are known.
Do not mix asking prices with transaction prices, means with medians, or a national index with a single-property valuation.