Indulgences Are Out, Durables Are In for Virus-Scarred Shoppers

The renewed coronavirus outbreaks in China and South Korea threaten to put the countries back into a soft lockdown. But East Asia did have a few months of calm. Bars and restaurants were open, as were gyms. The experience of these early movers may give us some clues on where the pent-up demand is in the U.S. So what were those lucky Asians spending their money on?

The first thing the Chinese did was take out insurance policies against their central bank’s printing money and stoking inflation—they bought apartments, long seen as a store of value. In May home sales quickly reversed April’s decline, with prices in first-tier megacities jumping 8.6% from a year ago. North Asians seem to favor durable goods. From China to South Korea, car sales staged a sharp V-shaped rebound. People were also spending money on home improvement, with furniture sales back up in China.