Hong Kong emerged as the world’s most unaffordable housing market for the 13th straight year in the newest Demographia International Housing Affordability report, which compared housing affordability ratios in 94 major cities across eight countries in 2022: Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK, and the US.
The report’s affordability ratios are calculated by dividing a city’s median house price by the median annual household income. Hong Kong’s house price-to-income ratio is 18.8.
However, the city’s affordability ratio fell from 23.2 (2021) to 18.8 (2022) because of factors such as Covid-19, the resulting economic slump, and rising interest rates. This led to Hong Kong having the highest decline in its affordability ratio among all the cities surveyed.
Other unaffordable cities include Sydney (13.3), Vancouver (12), Honolulu (11.8), San Jose (11.5), and Los Angeles (11.3). Singapore was the only other Asian city on the list. While the Lion City’s ratio fell from 5.8 to 5.3, it still comes under the “severely unaffordable” category as its ratio is higher than 5.1.
According to another report from Statista, the average price of permanent housing in Hong Kong Island surpassed 186 thousand Hong Kong dollars per square meter in 2021, making it one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world.
This represents a significant increase from the cost per square meter in 2011, which stood at 99452 HKD. The figures presented apply specifically to flats with less than 70 square meters.
These statistics highlight the challenges faced by those seeking affordable housing in Hong Kong, a city where property prices have continued to rise steeply over the past decade, and where families’ monthly income dropped to 27100 HKD in 2022.
Header image credits: Leung Cho Pan via Canva
