OPINION> Commentary
Confusing data on house prices
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-07 07:45

The conflicting house price statistics provided by different government offices point to the urgent need to select authentic data and improve inter-department communications, says an article in the website of Xinhua News Agency. The following is an excerpt:

Residents in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, have been quite puzzled recently by the different government statistics on the house price levels in the city.

Statistics provided by the Guangzhou municipal real estate management bureau shows that the city's average house price in September is 8,244 yuan ($1,200) per sq m, down 14.9 percent year-on-year and 9.2 percent month-on-month.

However, statistics provided by the National Development and Reform Commission, the national planning body, said the city saw a month-on-month drop of only 1.4 percent in average house price in September, a disparity of 6.5 times.

The Guangzhou municipal statistics bureau has also provided a different figure. According to the bureau, average house price in Guangzhou dropped 2.5 percent month-on-month.

So which statistics should the consumers accept as they have such a wide disparity?

The widely different figures expose old problems in government statistics, which has confused many consumers and ruined public trust in government.

The government needs to eliminate the sources of false data and improve communication and coordination among different government departments so that consumers will have authentic information on the current real estate market.

(China Daily 11/07/2008 page8)