Hong Kong has retained its dubious distinction as the world’s most unaffordable property market for the 14th straight year, as the average home costs more than the average family earns in more than a decade and a half, according to the 2024 edition of the Demographia International Housing Affordability report.

To be exact, the average family would have to bank its entire income for 16.7 years to amass the average selling price of a home in the city. The span is down from last year’s 18.8 years and represents a further improvement from 20.8 years in pre-pandemic 2019, as home prices have declined and incomes have risen, the report said.

The ranking comes as China’s central government has given Hong Kong a clear mandate to improve housing affordability and increase home sizes, which are among the smallest in the world, the report said. Hong Kong also has the lowest home ownership rate in the study at 51 per cent, while Singapore’s is the highest at 88 per cent, the report said.

Hong Kong’s lived-in home prices climbed 271.7 per cent from 2009 to an all-time peak in September 2021, according to a government index.

The city has ranked as the world’s most unaffordable housing market since 2011 when it was first included in the think tank’s survey, which started in 2005. The 2024 edition provides ratings for the third quarter of 2023 for 94 major metropolitan areas around the world.

The years-to-purchase number Demographia uses is the so-called median multiple, a price-to-income ratio that simply divides the median home price by the median annual household income.

Sydney ranks as the second most unaffordable market, with a multiple of 13.8, followed by Vancouver at 12.3.

The first-hand property market is expected to supply about 112,000 new flats in the next three to four years, according to a Housing Bureau estimate at the end of March – marking the second straight quarter where the number hit a record high.

Two major government initiatives could add substantially to Hong Kong’s housing stock.