What is the RBI House Price Index?

The Reserve Bank of India's House Price Index (HPI) tracks residential property price movements across selected Indian cities using transaction-based data collected from housing finance companies and banks, providing a standardized indicator of price trends.

How the Index Is Constructed

• Based on actual registered transaction prices rather than listing prices
• Data sourced from housing loan disbursements by lenders
• Covers ten major cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Bengaluru

What the Index Measures

• Quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year residential price changes
• City-level variations in price momentum
• Broad trends in the urban housing market

Uses and Limitations

• Used by policymakers to monitor housing market health
• Limitations include lag in data collection and reporting
• Does not capture micro-market or sub-segment level variations

The RBI House Price Index provides a credible, transaction-based benchmark for tracking residential price movements, offering policymakers and analysts a more reliable picture of market trends than listing-based indicators which may reflect aspirational rather than actual prices.