People’s Daily recently published a report on the result of research on the cost of housing. International Finance News, which is owned by People’s Daily, conducted the research, which delved into the full cost chain of the housing market from establishing the construction project to the final delivery to the ultimate buyer. The research showed that the entire process involves seven categories of government taxes and fees. These break down into thirty seven accounting cost items. The total cost of these government taxes and fees amounts to seventy percent of the price of the property. Different provinces may have some differences in those fees. In Beijing, the housing development process involves over twenty government agencies. In Guangzhou, this number is over thirty. Experts suggested that the real number would be higher than seventy percent if one considered upstream and downstream costs outside the scope of the construction project.
Source: People’s Daily, December 8, 2012
http://finance.people.com.cn/n/2012/1208/c1004-19832473.html