Accounting costs of transactions in real estate: the case of Denmark

The costs of transactions in real estate is of importance for households, for investors, for statistical services, for governmental and international bodies concerned with the efficient delivery of basic state functions, as well as for research. The paper takes a multi-disciplinary approach in relating theoretical conceptualizations of transaction costs to national accounting and further to the identification and quantification of actions on units of real estate. The notion of satellite accounting of the System of National Accounts is applied to the segment of society concerned with changes in real estate. The paper ends up with an estimate of the cost of a major real property transaction in Denmark.