Since China’s property market started to crash toward the end of last year, there have been about 12 million marriages. It’s an interesting stat, which comes from an old colleague, CLSA China strategist Andy Rothman. He notes that many of these people haven’t bought houses yet and are most likely to be living with in-laws, not the best way to start a marriage, even in China’s filial culture. For Chinese electronics companies, a return to strong growth in the housing market is a key driver since all those new houses will need TVs, stereos, washers/dryers, refrigerators and air conditioners.

Andy expects the housing market to slowly recover in the 2nd half, and is sticking with his GDP growth forecast of 8%. That would be a welcome development, but I’m not holding my breath. Anyway, instead of waxing on with my thoughts, I’ll let you listen to what Andy has to say. Check out this podcast at The Economist, where Andy answers some of the most frequent questions he hears from clients.