Publication Details
Abstract
This study examines the magnitude and persistence of regional housing asking-price heterogeneity in Uzbekistan and evaluates its implications for geographic stratification in residential property price index (RPPI) compilation. The empirical panel contains 420 region-segment-quarter cells: 14 territorial units, three housing segments and 10 quarters from 2024Q1 to 2026Q2. Apartment prices are measured per square metre of floor area, while the available indicator for individual houses is price per square metre of land; the two dwelling types are therefore analysed separately. Regional heterogeneity is assessed using the coefficient of variation, the maximum-to-minimum price ratio, the Tashkent City price relative to the median of the other regions, and Spearman rank correlation of regional price rankings. In 2026Q2, cross-regional coefficients of variation were 50.65% for primary-market apartments, 36.71% for secondary-market apartments and 95.56% for individual houses. After Tashkent City was excluded, the corresponding values remained 29.07%, 22.59% and 36.38%. Spearman correlations between regional rankings in 2024Q1 and 2026Q2 were 0.662, 0.833 and 0.916, respectively. The results show that spatial price heterogeneity is persistent and cannot be reduced to a capital-versus-rest distinction. They support a two-stage spatial architecture for RPPI production: broad geographic-market stratification followed by more granular location controls within strata. The reported asking-price levels are not quality-adjusted RPPIs and are interpreted as diagnostics for index design rather than as estimates of pure price change.