RP Data and Rismark International have combined to launch a highly accurate and timely suite of world-class property price indices that have transformed the way Australians measure and understand changes in the value of residential real estate over time.

These indices are known as the "RP Data-Rismark Indices". A number of the indices are the first of their kind to be released for commercial use in the Australian and global markets. You can find out more about the RP Data-Rismark Indices by clicking here.

The RP Data-Rismark Indices have been independently audited by the Securities Industry Research Centre of Asia-Pacific ("SIRCA"), which is a not-for-profit financial services research organisation involving twenty-six collaborating universities across Australia and New Zealand. In its review of the RP Data-Rismark indices, SIRCA concluded:

"...the results of our analysis indicate that the stratified median price, hedonic and repeat-sales property price indices developed by RP Data-Rismark represent a material improvement over the simple median price series that have historically predominated in the Australian market. In this regard, it is pleasing to see private sector organisations that are committed to undertaking sophisticated residential real estate research and advancing our otherwise crude understanding of this complex market."

In addition to the SIRCA audit, Moody's Economy.com, which is a leading global economics research organisation, has also undertaken an extensive review of the methodology, data and procedures used by RP Data-Rismark to construct house price indices. The Moody's report's summary findings, which were authored by two economics PhDs, are as follows:

"The suite of indexes calculated by RP Data-Rismark represents a significant improvement in the quality of housing price statistics available in Australia."

"We look forward to seeing these indexes as they are released and believe that they will quickly take a central place in the macroeconomic data framework of Australia."

"These data are more sophisticated, detailed and have better coverage than that used in the construction of existing housing price indexes in Australia. The high quality of the data makes it possible to implement not only median price and repeat sales indexes but also hedonic indexes, which up to this point had proved difficult to construct in Australia due to data constraints"

The RP Data-Rismark Hedonic Indices have received considerable industry praise.

In August 2010, Goldman Sachs commented, "In our view, [the RP Data-Rismark Hedonic Index] is conceptually the best of the house price series available, especially considering it is based upon transactions (not settlement date), is available for rural and city areas and appears to have better turning point characteristics than other house price series...We favour using the ABS and RP data/Rismark data series when conducting analytical work."

In May 2009, CommSec commented, “The RP Data-Rismark index has emerged as Australia’s authoritative source on home price trends. The property database is Australia’s largest and, unlike the Bureau of Statistics, all properties are counted, not just free-standing homes.”

On the same date, Macquarie Bank’s interest rate strategist also commented, “RP Data-Rismark’s monthly estimates are more timely and reliable than the ABS’s quarterly readings”.