Sector of landlord (information about a variable and its quality)

Priority level

Priority level 2

We assign a priority level to all census variables: Priority 1, 2, or 3 (with 1 being highest and 3 being the lowest priority).

Sector of landlord is a priority 2 variable. Priority 2 variables cover key subject populations that are important for policy development, evaluation, or monitoring. These variables are given second priority in terms of quality, time, and resources across all phases of a census.

The census priority level for sector of landlord remains the same as 2013.

Quality Management Strategy and the Information by variable for sector of landlord (2013) have more information on the priority rating.

Overall quality rating for 2018 Census

High quality

Data quality processes section below has more detail on the rating for this variable.

Subject population

Households in rented occupied private dwellings ie, households that do not own their home or have it in a family trust and who are paying rent.

‘Subject population’ means the people, families, households, or dwellings to whom the variable applies.

How this data is classified

Census Sector of Landlord 2018 V2.0.0

Sector of landlord is a flat classification with the following categories:

1 Private person, trust, or business

2 Local authority or city council

3 Housing New Zealand Corporation

4 Iwi, hapū, or Māori land trust

5 Other community housing provider

6 Other state-owned corporation or state-owned enterprise, or government department or ministry

9 Not elsewhere included

‘Not elsewhere included’ contains the residual categories of don’t know, response unidentifiable, and not stated.

Although there have been no conceptual changes to this variable, there have been minor changes to the classification of this variable from the 2013 Census. This includes:

• the addition of new categories – Iwi, hapū, or Māori land trust; Other community housing provider
• the classification codes have changed.

The Information by variable for sector of landlord (2013) has more information.

The Standards and Classifications page provides background information on classifications and standards.

Question format

Sector of landlord is collected on the dwelling form (question 6 on the paper form).

Stats NZ Store House has samples for both the individual and dwelling paper forms.

There were no differences between the wording or question format in the online and paper versions of this question.

There were differences in the way a person could respond:

On the online dwelling form:

• if the respondent indicated that they or someone else who lived there owned or partly owned the dwelling or held the dwelling in a family trust, the sector of landlord question was not displayed and could not be answered
• only one response could be selected for the sector of landlord question. If a further response was selected, the response given previously disappeared.

On the paper dwelling form:

• it was possible for respondents to miss the routing and answer the sector of landlord question after indicating that they or someone else who lived there owned or partly owned the dwelling or held it in a family trust (Note: Any responses to sector of landlord from households who were not renting their home are not included in the output data.)
• multiple responses were possible. These were resolved via the use of edits.

How this data is used

Outside Stats NZ

• Has relevance in the areas of affordability, tenure security, suitability, habitability, and freedom from discrimination.
• Provide a benchmark against which housing administrative data is assessed and developed.
• Enables identification of iwi and hapū rental dwellings which could help inform Māori housing policy.
• Assess market dominance in rental housing.
• Measure shifts in the approach taken by government to housing assistance, and study the consequences of change.
• Enable Housing New Zealand Corporation to assess whether it is meeting its social objectives as required by law.
• Formulate and monitor housing policy by central and local government.

Within Stats NZ

• Used to analyse the characteristics of households renting through different landlords and as a measure of the rental housing supply by sector.
• Provides weighting information for rents in the Consumer Price Index.

2018 data sources

We used alternative data sources for missing census responses and responses that could not be classified or did not provide the type of information asked for. Where possible, we used responses from the 2013 Census, administrative data from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), or imputation.

The table below shows the breakdown of the various data sources used for this variable.

The ‘no information’ percentage is where we were not able to source sector of landlord data for a household in the subject population.

Administrative data sources

Data from the following administrative sources was used:

• Housing New Zealand Corporation
• Tenancy Bonds, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Please note that when examining sector of landlord data for specific population groups within the subject population, the percentage that is from administrative data and statistical imputation may differ from that for the overall subject population.

Missing and residual responses

‘No information’ in the data sources table is the percentage of the subject population coded to ‘not stated’. In recent previous censuses, non-response was the percentage of the subject population coded to ‘not stated.’

In 2018, the percentage of ‘not stated’ is lower than previous censuses due to the use of the additional data sources described above.

Percentage of ‘not stated’ for households in rented occupied private dwellings:

• 2018: 0.2 percent
• 2013: 1.0 percent
• 2006: 1.1 percent.

Responses that could not be classified or did not provide the type of information asked for such as response unidentifiable and don’t know remain in the data, where we have been unable to find information from another source. In the data sources table, these residuals are included in the ‘Response from 2018 Census’ percentage.

For output purposes, as with the 2013 and 2006 Censuses, these residual category responses are grouped with ‘not stated’ and are classified as ‘not elsewhere included’.

Percentage of ‘not elsewhere included’ for the households in rented occupied private dwellings:

• 2018: 0.2 percent
• 2013: 6.3 percent
• 2006: 5.7 percent.

2013 Census data user guide provides more information about non-response in the 2013 Census.

Data quality processes

Overall quality rating: High quality

Data was evaluated to assess whether it meets quality standards and is suitable for use.

Three quality metrics contributed to the overall quality rating:

• data sources and coverage
• consistency and coherence
• data quality.

The lowest rated metric determines the overall quality rating.

Data quality assurance for 2018 Census provides more information on the quality rating scale.

Data sources and coverage: High quality

We have assessed the quality of all the data sources that contribute to the output for the variable. To calculate a data sources and coverage quality score for a variable, each data source is rated and multiplied by the proportion it contributes to the total output.

The rating for a valid census response is defined as 1.00. Ratings for other sources are the best estimates available of their quality relative to a census response. Each source that contributes to the output for that variable is then multiplied by the proportion it contributes to the total output. The total score then determines the metric rating according to the following range:

• 98–100 = very high
• 95–<98 = high
• 90–<95 = moderate
• 75–<90 = poor
• <75 = very poor.

Admin data was highly comparable to 2018 Census responses, while statistical imputation was moderately comparable to census forms. The high proportion of data from received forms and admin sources in comparison to the low proportion sourced from statistical imputation contributed to the score of 0.96, determining the high quality rating.

Data sources, editing, and imputation in the 2018 Census has more information on the Canadian census edit and imputation system (CANCEIS) that was used to derive donor responses.

Consistency and coherence: High quality

Sector of landlord data in the 2018 Census is not fully comparable with the 2013 and 2006 Census data, however the changes in the 2018 data are mostly due to improved data quality for 2018.

Variable data is consistent with expectations across nearly all consistency checks, with some minor variation from expectations or benchmarks that makes sense due to real-world change and incorporation of other sources of data.

• The data on households renting from Housing New Zealand Corporation is more complete for 2018 due to the use of administrative data. There is minimal undercount of these households in the 2018 Census data (less than 1 percent). Previously the undercount of these households in the census was estimated to be 18 percent in 2013 and 25 percent in 2006, based on a comparison with aggregate Housing New Zealand Corporation data on the number of occupied dwellings. The Information by variable for sector of landlord (2013) has more information.

• The increase in households renting from a private person, trust, or business is likely to be a combination of real-world change and improved data quality due to the use of administrative data.

Data quality: High quality

The data quality checks for sector of landlord included edits for consistency within the dataset and cross-tabulations to territorial authority and Auckland local board level.

Data has only minor data quality issues. The quality of coding and responses within classification categories is high. Any impact of other data sources used is minor. Any issues with the variable appear in a low number of cases (typically in the low hundreds).

Although high overall, the data quality for the new categories (‘Iwi, hapū, or Māori land trust’ and ‘Other community housing provider’) may be somewhat lower. These categories are relatively small, have higher levels of imputed data than other sector of landlord categories, and there were no administrative data sources against which the census results for these landlord types could be compared.

Note: information about sector of landlord relies on the respondent being aware of who their landlord is. The use of administrative data means that we have been able to reduce the amount of non-response in the sector of landlord data.

Recommendations for use and further information

We recommend that the use of this data can be similar to its use in 2013.

However, when using this data you should be aware that:

• data has been checked to territorial authority and Auckland local board level. Some variation is possible at geographies below this level.
• the data for the new categories for ‘Iwi, hapū, or Māori land trust’ and ‘Other community housing provider’ should be viewed with some caution due to the amount of imputed data in these categories
• the amount of data in residual categories (don’t know, response unidentifiable, and not stated) is lower for 2018 than for previous censuses due to the use of administrative data and statistical imputation.

Contact our Information Centre for further information about using this variable.