As we all know, the high property prices in Hong Kong bring a great burden to Hong Kong people. According to some surveys, Hong Kong has become the most difficult area in the world to afford property prices for 8 consecutive years, and the property price-to-income ratio has further deteriorated from 18.1 times in 2016 to 19.4 times, which is the highest figure in history, that is, Hong Kong people can afford to buy a residential unit without eating or drinking for 19.4 years.
Far behind runners-up Sydney and runners-up Vancouver
According to a survey by Demographia, an international public policy advisory body, Hong Kong's index ranks first in the world's most difficult to afford, and it is extremely unaffordable, far behind Sydney, Australia, and Vancouver, Canada, which are ranked 2nd and 3rd, with 12.9 times and 12.6 times respectively.
The housing burden in Hong Kong at the beginning of 2000 was much better than it is now
The survey covered property price data from 293 major cities in nine countries, including Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States, and Hong Kong was the only Chinese city in the survey.
The survey calculates local property price affordability by dividing the median local property price by the median household income, and the statistics are as of the third quarter of last year.
The report notes that housing affordability in Hong Kong was much better in the early 2000s than it is now, citing data from the University of Chinese hong Kong that the property price-to-income ratio was 4.6 times in 2002 on a residential unit of about 430 square feet, rising to 15.7 times in 2015.
The situation in Hong Kong far exceeds the boundaries of the "extreme burden"
The agency defines that a multiple of 3 times or less is considered to be an "affordable" level, while more than 5.1 times is already in the category of "extremely difficult to afford".
The Hong Kong figure reached 19.4, which shows that the situation in Hong Kong far exceeds the extremely difficult to afford level. As the figures are as of the third quarter of 2017, considering the new high figures of multiple property price levels recently announced, it is believed that the current burden level is higher.