Compared to the national income, China's apartment prices can be said to be exorbitant. The contradiction between low national income and high housing prices has even given rise to pessimistic views that the real estate bubble is about to burst.
Suez Bank recently conducted a survey, the results of which were published by the China Economic Reform Research Foundation. This new survey result, however, overturned the aforementioned pessimistic view. According to this survey, the disposable income of the top 10% wealthy families in 2008 was 25,000 US dollars, three times more than the official statistics.
In terms of China's total economic output, the disposable income of wealthy families also exceeds the officially reported data by 90%. The total amount of unreported income is approximately 1.4 trillion US dollars, equivalent to 30% of China's GDP.
Seeing these numbers helps answer the question of why so many Chinese people can afford Gucci bags and BMWs. (The expansion of China's luxury goods industry far exceeds that of other countries.) Acceptance of gifts, bribes, and unreported income in the form of "grey income" plays a significant role in supporting the lifestyle of China's elite class.
On the other hand, China's Gini coefficient (a measure of income inequality) is very high, with the gap between rich and poor seemingly surpassing that of the United States and aligning with Brazil. This disparity could one day lead to a crisis more severe than the real estate bubble.