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China’s middle class still jittery about spending – especially on property, survey finds
- Index of household spending expectations is even lower than the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers say in quarterly report
- Outlays on travel and entertainment remain in the doldrums and most respondents are not optimistic about economic prospects for the next 12 months
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He Huifengin Guangdong
China’s middle-class families remain cautious about spending – particularly on property – despite repeated government efforts to loosen household purse strings, according to a university study.
In their quarterly survey of household wealth and income released on Thursday, researchers at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu, Sichuan province, found that their index of families’ future spending expectations was even lower than the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the China Household Wealth Index Survey conducted by the university’s Survey and Research Centre for China Household Finance, the index of spending expectations fell to 101.9 in the first quarter of this year, down from 103.0 in the fourth quarter of 2023.
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A reading of 100 is the dividing line between expansion in spending plans and contraction.
The latest reading is even lower than the 102.6 result for the second quarter of 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic began to bite the economy.
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The survey measures the spending plans of households with an average of 1.5 million yuan (US$207,000) in combined property and financial assets, and an average household income of 170,000 yuan.
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