Hong Kong Homes Ranked Least Affordable for 11th Year
For the 11th year, Hong Kong remained the least affordable housing market in the country, underscoring the tax deficit in the financial city.
In most cities, a combination of dropping revenue and increasing house prices during 2020 caused affordability to worsen. The other cities ranked in the top 10, aside from Hong Kong, saw affordability deteriorate from the year before as the pandemic worsened the wealth gap.
According to a study released by the Think Tanks Urban Reform Institute and Frontier Centre for Public Policy, the Asian hub overtook Vancouver, Sydney, and Auckland last year as the most inexpensive rental market in the country. The median property price in Hong Kong fell marginally from 20.8 times the year before to 20.7 times its median household income in 2020.
In many of these areas, an influx of new buyers, especially in the suburbs, has caused prices to rise. Many low-income and middle-income households that have already experienced the worst effects of housing inflation could see a further decrease in their living standards, the study said.
“The deterioration in the affordability of housing represents an existential threat to households with middle incomes,” the study said. “The increase in housing costs is attributable to much of the already greater inequality that has developed in recent decades.”