Hong Kong housing least affordable 11th time in a row

According to a report published by think tanks Urban Reform Institute and Frontier Centre for Public Policy, Hong Kong topped Vancouver, Sydney and Auckland as the least affordable residential market in the world last year.

The Asian hub's median property price dropped slightly to 20.7 times its median household income in 2020, from 20.8 times the year prior.

A combination of declining income and rising property prices during 2020 prompted affordability to worsen in most cities. Apart from Hong Kong, the other cities ranked in the top 10 saw affordability deteriorate from the year before as the pandemic worsened the wealth gap.

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Vancouver kept its second position with the median property value rising to 13 times household income, compared with 11.9 times in 2019. Sydney remained the third-most unaffordable housing market, followed by Auckland, which jumped from the sixth place the year before.

An influx of new home buyers, especially in the suburbs, sent prices soaring in many of these cities. Many low income and middle income households, which already suffered the worst consequences from housing inflation, could see their standard of living further decline.

The research covered 92 metropolitan areas in eight countries, including Australia and Canada and the US, with data from the third quarter (Q3) of 2020.

Image: With rising real estate prices and lower income rate due to the pandemic, affordability for housing across all cities deteriorated.

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