Chinese consumers are more optimistic about the future economic situation but remain uncertain about their incomes in the near future.

Consumer indices released on November 23 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that last month, 63 percent of consumers believed the economy will improve over the next 12 months, a higher percentage than in September.

In October, the Index of Consumer Expectations among low-income consumers rose by two percentage points over September.

The NBS pointed out in a news release today that consumers are cautiously optimistic about the economic situation, but lack confidence that their incomes will grow in the near future.

In October, 66 percent of consumers said their household income either remained unchanged or decreased over the previous 12 months. And 51 percent of them see no raises or decreases in their household income over the next 12 months.

The NBS attributes this phenomenon to people's concern about an increasingly competitive employment environment and their potential spending for social security, education, and housing in the future.

Some 56 percent of those surveyed said that housing prices are excessively high. In October, 14 percent of the consumers polled thought that buying housing was not a good investment, three percentage points more than in September.