SHENZHEN is seeking ways to improve the statistical calculation method for housing prices in a bid to publish more reasonable and reliable price information, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The news that Shenzhen will no longer announce the official average transaction price of new housing aroused a heated discussion recently. An expert said that the original intention of adjusting the data release policy was to better reflect the overall situation of the real estate market in Shenzhen.

However, it has been suggested that an improved data release system be established as soon as possible to prevent a lack of standard statistical data and increased market information asymmetry.

According to the city’s housing and construction bureau, due to the limited size of the new housing market in Shenzhen, the transaction price level is susceptible to structural impacts, and direct publication of relevant price information wouldn’t reflect the real situation of the market in a reliable way.

Relevant market conditions shall be based on the monthly real estate price index published by the National Bureau of Statistics, according to the bureau.

The housing information and transaction data released by the city’s real estate information system, which is the only big data platform for real estate under the Shenzhen government, have always attracted much interest among the public.

Starting this April, the platform will no longer publish the average transaction price of new housing or the total amount of new housing transactions.

Wang Feng, director of Shenzhen Real Estate Research Center, said the current average transaction price for new housing is based on a simple calculation method that doesn’t consider homogeneity and comparability.

Wang said that although Shenzhen no longer officially announces the average transaction price of new housing, it still publishes data, such as the floor space of the housing transactions.  

(Zhang Yu)