Hong Kong may be less expensive than before, but buying a home here is still painfully difficult for many households.
The city has ranked as the world’s least affordable housing market for the 16th year it has been included in the Demographia International Housing Affordability 2026 report, conducted by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, an independent Canadian public policy think tank.
The report gives Hong Kong a Median Multiple of 14.1, the highest among all markets surveyed. In other terms, this means a typical home costs about 14 years of a typical household’s income, before expenses.
While that still puts Hong Kong in the “impossibly unaffordable” category, the figure has improved from 16.7 in 2023 and 20.8 in 2019.
The report also notes that major projects such as the Northern Metropolis and Lantau Vision Tomorrow could add a substantial number of new housing units over the coming decades.
Sydney came very close to Hong Kong this year, ranking second with a Median Multiple of 14.0. The rest of the top five includes San Jose at 11.3, Adelaide at 11.2 and Vancouver at 10.8. Los Angeles follows at 10.7.
All 10 markets are rated “impossibly unaffordable”, with Australia and the United States taking most of the top spots in this year’s global ranking.
Image credits: Leung Cho Pan via Canva