In a recent note to clients, Madani wrote that housing investment may continue to assist GDP growth throughout the rest of 2013, «but there are still tentative signs that a day of reckoning lies around the corner, with housing likely to become a significant
drag on growth next year.»
Just as important, at a time when fears over China's slowing economy are widespread and there's evidence of retail saturation in the country's major metropolitan areas, nearly half of survey participants said they expect to be better off financially in the
next 12 months — and they are eager to spend, contrary to gloomy assumptions about the
drag of sluggish economic
growth on consumer sentiment.