Accessing Land Registry Data for Monitoring Housing Sector
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to present the experience of the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) in accessing high frequency micro level data of Land Registry in order to have a comprehensive understanding of developments in the housing market. During the Covid-19 pandemic, house prices surged mostly due to increase in housing demand and disruptions in supply of raw materials. The possibility of overheating in the prices has arisen the need to monitor the market more closely for the central banks aiming to sustain financial stability. Hence, as CBRT we began to collect high frequency data from Land Registry via web service to observe the property transactions in a timely manner. The web service has enabled us to produce daily (even hourly) indicators using granular house sales data. Detailed indicators, such as district level sales to foreigners, enabled decision makers to observe the effects of recent policy actions concerning the housing market and take the necessary measures.