The Rise of the Chinese Consumer

By 2014 in US-Dollar terms we think that China will have become the second largest consumer market overtaking Japan. Property is a very important part of Chinese consumer wealth. And they are quite unleveraged in the housing sector. Only about 10 percent of our respondents have any kind of a mortgage on their property. The reason for that is that the state used to own all the property. It actually does own the free hold land. But property was privatized in the cities. People were effectively given a long lease on their apartment or house almost for free in the 1990s. And now, as people’s income goes up they are trying to trade up. (read more...)