And that place is…
Affordability is key when looking to rent or buy a property. Fortunately in Thailand, there is a such as wide variety of property available that you can buy a small city centre bolt hole for a few million baht or a secluded beachfront villa for a figure with at least six zeros tagged onto the end. There is pretty much something for everyone regardless of your budget or tastes.
However this is not the case in Hong Kong. Crowned for the seventh year in a row as the least affordable place to own property anywhere in the world. This is according to the Demographia’s International Housing Affordability Survey who have just conducted their 13th edition of their report.
In order to rank different markets across the world, Demographia’s formula divides the average house price by the average household income to create a ‘median multiple’. The figure for Hong Kong stands at 18.1. In simple terms this means that the price of property is 18.1 more times than the average annual income. Demographia class anything over 5.1 as ‘severely unaffordable’.
It is is no wonder that Hong Kong’s government have taken measures similar to that of Singapore in an attempt to cool the housing market. These measures have included rising taxes and penalising foreign investors or those looking to purchase a property who do not fall under the first time buyer category. However this score is only slightly lower than the previous year where Hong Kong achieved 19 in 2015.
Following this particularly expensive market is Sydney in second place with a median multiple of 12.2. And then Vancouver, Auckland and San Jose, with 11.8, 10, and 9.6 respectively.
As the thirst for property continues, particularly among mainland Chinese who are cautious of the weakening Yuan, it will be interesting to see how the market pans out in Hong Kong. However, news like this will only go to boast other markets in the region such as Thailand which are considerably more affordable in comparison.
