Chinese Are Becoming More Pessimistic About Incomes and Housing

More Chinese are seeing their incomes dropping now and expect housing prices to fall in the coming three months, a worrying sign for the struggling economy as it will likely undermine housing demand and hurt construction activity.

A gauge measuring how people felt about their income fell to 49.7, with about a sixth of the respondents saying they earned less money in the current quarter than in the first three months of the year, according to a regular survey of depositors conducted by the central bank. The gauge slumped last year as the country went into lockdown before rebounding again in the January-March period.