Priced out of Hong Kong, young home buyers look to Greater Bay Area for space and value
- Twenty-five years after the handover, home ownership in Hong Kong is further out of reach than ever for first-time buyers
- Some 20-somethings are finding value in Dongguan and other cities in the Pearl River Delta, even as the incoming chief executive promises improvements
Twenty-something Hongkongers are looking to the Greater Bay Area for their first homes, as soaring prices over the past two decades in the world’s least affordable housing market have broken their dreams of ownership in the city of their birth.
Average home prices in Hong Kong have increased 140 per cent since 1997 and 582 per cent since a post-handover low point in 2003, according to government statistics.
That growth has priced many out of the market. In fact, a family would on average need to save up for 23.2 years – without spending a single dollar on anything else – to afford a home in the city, according to the 2022 Demographia International Housing Affordability Study, which calculated affordability based on median home prices and median household incomes. Sydney came in a distant second at 15.3 years, while Vancouver took third place at 13.3 years.
Hong Kong has held its spot as the least affordable property market for 12 years in that study.
Like the four Hong Kong leaders who came before him, Chief Executive-elect John Lee Ka-chiu has identified housing as a “top priority among priorities”.
