Measuring the Services of Durables and Owner Occupied Housing

Abstract

This paper provides an update to the chapter on the treatment of durables in the Consumer Price Index Manual (2004). The most important durable is housing, which typically accounts for approximately 20% of total consumption services. A large fraction of total housing services consists of the services of Owner Occupied Housing (OOH). The main approaches to measuring the services of OOH are (i) the acquisitions approach; (ii) the rental equivalence approach and (iii) the user cost approach. Two other approaches are sometimes used: (iv) the opportunity cost approach and (v) the payments approach. A main purpose of this paper is to present the main approaches to the treatment of OOH and to discuss the benefits and costs of the alternative approaches. The paper also discusses the problems associated with forming imputations for the services of "ordinary" consumer durable goods. Journal of Economic Literature Classification NumbersC23, C43, C81, D12, E31. C43, C82, E01.

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