价格不是什么

Price: A Psychological Issue

无论是利润、成本还是供需，都墙角法完全决定房价。理解价格的变动，不能只看客观的数据，还必须深入人的心理世界。

Housing prices have again become the focus of public outrage. Those accused have tried to shift the blame onto each other using data as a tool to defend themselves against the general discontent. A survey by the Ministry of Land and Resources shows that the land cost accounts for an average of 25% of the housing price in Beijing and 23.25% nationwide. This suggests that the sky-high prices in China’s housing market are in? ated by real estate developers and speculators.Of course the developers disagree with that assessment. A real estate businessman from Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province in central China, declared that the land cost accounted for 40% of a building’s price, the construction cost for 30% and, especially, taxes for 20%. His conclusion is that rising land prices are driving up the prices for residential housing.All these views imply that prices are based on cost and demand. However, this is not always the case. Firms in fierce competition always try to cut their costs and might even sell products at a price lower than the costs. And demand might play a weaker role in price formation than most people think because it is extremely diffi cult for every individual to discern the disparity between demand and supply. So in the housing market, there are often more purchases when the price is rising because consumer psychology spurs people to buy before prices go higher.