Land value on the up in Colombo District

The Land Valuation Indicator (LVI) for the Colombo District increased to 155.1 during the first half of 2021 according to its compiler, the Central Bank said. 

The annual increase of 9.5 and the semi-annual increase of 6.8 of LVI, reversed the declining trend observed in the LVI over the last two years.

Central Bank said all sub-indicators of LVI, namely Residential LVI, Commercial LVI and Industrial LVI, contributed to the overall increase. Industrial LVI recorded the highest annual increase of 10.1%, followed by Residential LVI and Commercial LVI. 

The Land Price Index (LPI) compiled from 1998 to 2008 on an annual basis and from 2009 to 2017 on a semi-annual basis, covering five DS divisions in the Colombo District. Subsequently, from 2017 onwards, its geographical coverage was enhanced to represent all 13 DS divisions in the Colombo District and hence it was rebased considering the first half of 2017 as the base period. 

From 2020 onwards, LPI was renamed as Land Valuation Indicator (LVI) and continued to be released on a semi-annual basis.

Per perch bare land prices are obtained from the Government Valuation Department on a semi-annual basis.

Considering the diverse nature of land use, and the necessity of maintaining homogeneity, three sub-indicators for residential, commercial and industrial lands are computed separately for each DS division using the average per perch bare land price in the area. The LVI is the simple average of these three sub-indicators.