How Is Housing Handled in the National Income and Product Accounts?

Marios Karabarbounis and John O'Trakoun

Richmond Fed Economic Brief, 2025, vol. 25, issue 04

Abstract: The National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) are prepared by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to provide a comprehensive picture of the nation's economic performance. Measuring the multitude of economic transactions for a variety of spending categories, sectors and regions is a formidable task that often involves imputing missing data and choosing how to analyze specific statistics. In this article, we focus on how NIPA measures economic activity in a particular sector: the housing sector, as it is highly sensitive to business cycle variations and changes in monetary policy. In addition, as we discuss below, a significant part of the recent inflation surge is associated with inflation in the housing market. It is therefore instructive to understand how housing services are recorded in the NIPA and how they impact the overall measures of production, income and prices.

Keywords: housing; inflation; spending (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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