How much does a house cost?

There is no way to decide on reasonable prices of housing unless we know the actual cost of housing projects, says an article in Chinese Business View. Excerpts:

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) will soon conduct a special study of housing development costs in 40 key cities, including the basic terms of the builders, their financial condition, number of projects underway and composition of their building costs.

The study aims to find out the reason for the prevalent high prices of houses. Some observers expect the central government to map out a new policy for the real estate industry, and the new moves may affect housing prices.