This paper aims to address the historical underestimation of China’s owner-occupied housing services (OOHS) scale and the 2024 accounting reform by the China’s National Bureau of Statistics – which adopted the market rent approach for urban areas but did not revise historical data or disclose specific methods. It proposes an alternative accounting framework based on the market rent approach applicable when the National Bureau of Statistics of China does not disclose specific official calculation formulas, and reestimates the imputed rent and value-added of owner-occupied housing at provincial and national levels via the market rent approach, aiming to improve the accounting system and provide decision support for high-quality consumption development.
Using China’s provincial and national data, this study reevaluates the imputed rent and value-added of OOHS through the market rent approach, incorporating international comparisons to examine the economic effects of adjusted accounting methods.
With the market rent approach, China’s OOHS value-added grew by 82.00% during 2013–2023, with significantly increased shares in household expenditure and gross domestic product, confirming long-term underestimation of its economic contribution. Based on the results of international comparative analysis, the current national accounting system still leaves scope for optimization, and the corresponding accounting rules need to be further refined.
First, this paper targets the reform gaps of the National Bureau of Statistics of China, including unrevised historical data and undisclosed measurement methodologies. Against the backdrop that the NBS has not released detailed measurement procedures, this paper proposes an alternative accounting framework for the value added of OOHS under the market rent approach based on currently available Chinese statistical data. Second, this paper breaks single-dimensional limitations through multilevel (provincial and national) accounting. Finally, international comparisons systematically reveal the impact of accounting adjustments on economic contribution evaluation.
