The Chinese wealth creation and demographic story is compelling for retail property investors. Favourable government policies, demographics and wealth creation are all shaping the future of Chinese consumers.

China has the largest population in the world of 1.34 billion (according to a 2010 UN estimate), the third highest GDP of $8.789 trillion (€6.79 trillion) (2009 estimate in purchasing power parity terms) and an economic growth rate that is among the highest in the world (9.9 percent per year over the past 10 years).

Despite a range of austerity measures introduced by the Chinese authorities to rein in bank lending and dampen property speculation, recent economic data have been upbeat. Both industrial production and retail sales showed solid growth in November 2010, with the former rising by 13.3 percent year-on-year and the latter up by 18.7 percent. Consensus Economics (December 2010) expects 10.1 percent GDP growth for 2010, with reta