Further monetary policy easing unlikely in months ahead in China

China's household inflation expectations moved sharply lower in the month, with a material increase in the proportion of respondents nominating that prices will fall over the year ahead. 

"With an insecure workforce and rising deflationary risks, there is no fundamental impediment to delivering further monetary policy easing in the months ahead. Consumer attitudes towards real estate were less favourable than in September, but relative to the pessimism pervading the rest of the survey, housing looks very resilient indeed", says Westpac. 

In terms of the four key indicators, there is a moderation in house price expectations and 'time to buy', housing as a 'motivation for saving' also fell, while domestic real estate as the 'wisest place for savings' increased. This latter factor tempered the degree of the overall move towards risk aversion evident across the rest of the survey.