House Prices/GDP per Capita in China compared to Asia

China: House price to income ratio

The house price to income ratio is the ratio of the cost of a typical upscale housing unit of 100 square metres, compared to the countrys GDP per capita. Normally this ratio will be much higher in low income countries than in high income countries.

The formula is: (Price per square metre / GDP per capita)*100. The house price to income ratios published by the Global Property Guide are based on the Global Property Guides own proprietary in-house research, but we use the IMFs GDP per capita figures.

China has poor house price statistics. The National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC) has monthly house price time-series starting January 2011 but only until August of 2013. Another source of house price indices is eHomeday, Shanghai's largest property market web site, which has time-series for Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Beijing, Yangzhou and Suzhou (but the site is only in Chinese, and no time-series are available). Colliers International publishes useful housing data in their quarterly property market reviews. General economics statistics are available from the NBSC and the People's Bank of China.