China’s economic recovery from the pandemic slump is broadening out, with data on Monday showing stronger growth in manufacturing and consumer spending. Here’s a look behind the headline numbers to see whether the rebound can be sustained:

Missed Estimates

Gross domestic product climbed 4.9% in the third quarter from a year ago, faster than the previous quarter’s 3.2% expansion, but missing the 5.5% gain forecast by economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

The economy expanded 0.7% in the year to date, meaning that the world’s second-largest economy regained all the ground it lost in the first half.

Not Full Recovery

Retailing started growing again in August, but still down for the year

Source: National Bureau of Statistics. Jan-Feb data is combined consumer Confidence

While industrial sectors are still leading the recovery, consumers have finally started to catch up. Retail sales growth accelerated to 3.3% in September, well above the 1.6% median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. An unexpected surge in vehicle sales definitely helped, but even excluding that, retail sales were up 2.4% from a year ago. Restaurants continue to register declines from a year ago, but improved to -2.9%. With the virus largely under control, and evidence of robust spending through the recent Golden Week holidays, the data suggest consumers are starting to open their wallets again. Still, there’s a lot of ground to make up, with retail sales down 7.2% in the nine months through September from the same period last year.

Property Gain

Property investment outperformed, expanding 5.6% in the nine months through September from the same period in 2019, even as the Chinese government tightened its grip on the sector with new measures that state-run media have called the “three red lines.” While the real estate sector has been a support to economic growth, there are worries about rising indebtedness. That’s been made clear recently by property developer China Evergrande Group, which faced a possible cash crunch last month.