Annual Survey of Service Industries: Real Estate Agents, Brokers, Appraisers and Other Real Estate Activities
Detailed information for 1998
Status:
Active
Frequency:
Annual
Record number:
4706
These data are aggregated with information from other sources to produce official estimates of national and provincial economic production in Canada. The estimates are used by government for national and regional programs and policy planning and by the private sector for industry performance measurement and market development.
Data release - March 1, 2001
Description
These data are aggregated with information from other sources to produce official estimates of national and provincial economic production in Canada. The estimates are used by government for national and regional programs and policy planning and by the private sector for industry performance measurement and market development.
Statistical activity
The survey is administered as part of the Unified Enterprise Survey program (UES). The UES program has been designed to integrate, gradually over time, the approximately 200 separate business surveys into a single master survey program. The UES aims at collecting more industry and product detail at the provincial level than was previously possible while avoiding overlap between different survey questionnaires. The redesigned business survey questionnaires have a consistent look, structure and content. The unified approach makes reporting easier for firms operating in different industries because they can provide similar information for each branch operation. This way they avoid having to respond to questionnaires that differ for each industry in terms of format, wording and even concepts.
This survey is part of the Service Industries Program. The survey data gathered are used to compile aggregate statistics for over thirty service industry groupings. Financial data, including revenue, expense and profit statistics are available for all of the surveys in the program. In addition, many compile and disseminate industry-specific information.
Reference period: Calendar year
Collection period: From March to August
Subjects
- Business, consumer and property services
- Business performance and ownership
- Financial statements and performance
- Rental and leasing and real estate
Data sources and methodology
Target population
The target population consists of all statistical establishments (sometimes referred to as firms or units) classified as Real Estate Agents, Brokers, Appraisers and Other Real Estate Activities according to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) during the reference year.
Sampling
This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.
This survey is a Sample Survey with a take-all portion.
The survey design was based on probability sampling and covered only the portion of the frame subject to direct data collection. Each sampled firm represented a number of other, similar firms in the industry, based on the probability of being surveyed. The largest firms were included in the sample with certainty due to their significant contribution to industrial performance.
The firms selected for this survey represent only a small portion of the entire survey frame; therefore, in order to make the sample as efficient as possible, the sampled units were stratified by province/territory and industry at the NAICS 5 digit level. For each province/territory/NAICS, sampling units were stratified in four size strata that were defined by the total revenue of the sampling unit. For the size stratification, there is one take-all stratum for the large sampling units, two take-some strata for the medium ones (a large and a small), and one take-none stratum for the small ones. The sample was selected using simple random sampling within the strata; therefore, each cluster of establishments had the same chance of selection within a stratum.
Sample size
In order to compensate for non-response (for example, companies which cannot be contacted because they have moved or gone out of business) the size of the sample was increased. The resulting sample drawn for the surveyed portion alone (including NAICS 531390) totalled 1,910 companies.
Data sources
Responding to this survey is mandatory.
Data are collected directly from survey respondents and extracted from administrative files.
During the month of April 1999, questionnaires were mailed to sampled establishments. Establishments were asked to report information for their 12-month fiscal period for which the final day occurs on or between January 1st and December 31st 1998. In addition to the mail-out / mail-back questionnaire approach, the survey employed Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) for data collection, capture, edit and follow-up. The collection period ended in November 1999.
When significant errors were detected in Collection process, follow-up contacts were attempted.
The average time required to fill in the questionnaire is just under 4 hours.
View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .
Imputation
Reported data were examined for completeness and inconsistencies using automated edits coupled with analytical review. Another automated system was used to impute data for refusals, non-response and unable to contact, partially with the assistance of taxation data. This imputation process was also coupled with analytical review. In all, 31% of the NAICS 531210 records and 26% of the NAICS 531320 records went through the imputation process. The quality of the data coming out of the imputation process is judged to be very good for the aggregate variables, such as total revenue and total expenses.
In a number of cases, respondents reported data combining many sampling units located in more than one province, resulting in the need for data allocation. Auxiliary information, stemming mainly from the T4 Supplementary Form, was used to allocate the data reported on the combined report among the various provinces where the enterprise was in operation. This change in the source of information used for allocation purposes is believed to provide a more reliable distribution of revenue and expenses by province and territory.
Estimation
As part of the production of final numbers, data for companies operating in more than one province or territory are allocated to the provincial level. Administrative data are used to estimate for the portion of the industry that was excluded from survey activity (i.e. small firms whose revenues fell below cut-off thresholds). Sampled data are then weighted to produce estimates representative of the target population.
Disclosure control
Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.
Data accuracy
While Statistics Canada uses a variety of methods to ensure high standards throughout all collection and processing operations the results are always subject to a certain degree of error.
- Sampling errors can occur due to the fact that the estimates are derived from a sample of the population as opposed to the entire population. These errors depend on factors such as sample size, sampling design and the method of estimation.
- Non-sampling errors may occur for many reasons that are unrelated to sampling. Non-response and misclassification of the business (out of scope) are the most common factors. Some examples of other non-sampling errors are incorrect or incomplete information from respondents, differences in interpretation of the questions, errors in capturing, coding and processing of reported data. Every effort was made to minimize the non-sampling error of omission, duplication, reporting and processing.
Since this survey was based on probability sampling the potential for error caused by sampling can be measured. A standard measure of sampling error is the coefficient of variation (CV). The qualities of CVs are rated as follows:
. Excellent 0.01% to 4.99%
. Very good 5.00% to 9.99%
. Good 10.00% to 14.99%
. Acceptable 15.00% to 24.99%
. Use with caution 25.00% to 34.99%
. Unreliable 35.00% or higher
A table attached as "Quality Measures Summary" shows the CVs for Total Revenue, by NAICS, by Province. This table can be accessed by the hyperlink under the title Documentation below.
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