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Concepts and definitions

Capital cost

Capital costs refer to the costs of capital tied to real estate, comprising interests and calculated depreciations. The interest is comprised of the return requirement set on tied capital. Capital costs include costs relating to the purchase and ownership of real estate, and costs relating to encumbrances or statutory obligations.

Consumable

When a piece of real estate is used, materials and supplies are consumed, such as water and electricity, and these are referred to as consumables.

Index real estate

An index estate is a real estate included in the index from whose weighted averages an overall index is calculated. The types of index real estates in the index of real estate maintenance costs are residential block of flats, commercial building, office building, health centre, school building and industrial building. A separate index of real estate maintenance costs is calculated for single-family houses.

Maintenance cost

Maintenance costs include expenditure arising from the management and maintenance of real estate, such as all its service, electricity, heating, water consumption and waste management costs.

Real estate

A real estate is a unit of ownership in a land or water area entered as real estate in the real estate register. Buildings and fixtures owned by the owner of a real estate and located on it belong to the real estate.

Real estate maintenance

Real estate maintenance refers to activity aimed at the preservation of the condition, value and properties of a real estate (Glossary of real estate activity).

Subcontracting

In the index of real estate maintenance costs, subcontracting refers to maintenance services purchased from a third party.