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Nobody living in Hong Kong would call it affordable. But why is it so pricey?

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Nobody living in Hong Kong would call it affordable, and it ranks at the top of “most expensive cities to live” lists all the time. But what makes it so pricey to live here?

Most rankings list the city among the top five most expensive places to live, with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranking it in fifth place last year. Other rankings include Mercer, an American consulting firm, giving it the top spot in its “most expensive cities for expats” list this year, and bank Julius Baer ranking it in second place in its “cost of living extremely well” breakdown.

Typically, these rankings have Hong Kong and Singapore (often considered rivals) as the most expensive cities in Asia, and they compete with a handful of Western European cities for the top spot.

“In the case of the higher-ranking cities (Hong Kong, Singapore and Zurich), factors such as expensive housing markets, high transportation costs, and higher costs of goods and services have all contributed to high living costs,” wrote Mercer in a statement.

🤑What is causing the high rankings?

For anyone who has lived in Hong Kong for even a month, the answer is obvious: property prices.

While prices have come down from where they were right before the pandemic, according to an annual report from the Center of Demographics and Policy at Chapman University, the city still had the highest property prices in the world in 2023, continuing its 13-year streak as the most expensive city for housing. These high prices mean owning a home is not a reasonable expectation for the city’s residents. Only 51% of people in Hong Kong own property.

Beijing has said that Hong Kong's housing situation is a core issue that needs to be fixed in the city, with the Center of Demographics and Policy writing, “China’s central government has given Hong Kong a clear responsibility to improve housing affordability and increase house sizes, which are among the smallest in the world.”

The crunch has led to two controversial plans to fix the housing shortage: the Northern Metropolis near Shenzhen and a plan to build artificial islands called Lantau Vision Tomorrow. If these plans are completed, the government expects they could add over 1.1 million housing units in the coming decades.

But both projects – especially reclaiming land for the Lantau Vision Tomorrow – have sparked environmental concerns and worries that they will destroy the natural environment that makes Hong Kong an attractive place to live.

That aside, housing is an obvious drag on the city’s attractiveness, with Mercer writing: “When housing costs are high, employees may need to spend a significant portion of their income on rent or mortgage payments, leaving them with less disposable income for other expenses. This can lead to financial stress and a reduced standard of living, which can have a negative impact on employee morale and well-being.”

💼Expats vs. locals

The thing about these affordability lists and rankings is that they typically analyze the cost of living for expats in Hong Kong rather than locals.

A key difference between expat and local expenses is that many locals live with their families, which either lowers or completely gets rid of their rent or mortgage costs. According to a 2022 survey from Statistica, around 72% of Hong Kongers between the ages of 18-45 lived with their families. Expensive housing is a big factor driving this trend, with many young professionals saying “unreasonable” home prices make it necessary to either rent a place or live with their families instead.

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🪧UK riots: There have been widespread anti-immigrant riots across the UK this week, partly fueled by far-right groups. They came after a knife attack in Southport, England, at a kid's dance class, where three little girls were killed and eight others were injured. A 17-year-old was arrested in connection with the stabbing. Misinformation began spreading, implying the attacker was a Muslim and/or a migrant, which sparked anti-immigration protests across the country. Police warned there may be even more violence unfolding, and on Wednesday, thousands of antiracism counter-protesters gathered across the nation in response, for the most part outnumbering far-right protestors.

😲Bangladesh uprising: Protests in Bangladesh over an allegedly unfair jobs quota system began at the end of July and have been swelling over the last few weeks against the administration until finally, on Monday, the situation forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down and flee to India. The president dissolved Parliament on Tuesday, and now, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has stepped in as head of Bangladesh’s interim government. The goal now will be to restore peace and prepare for new elections. In the wake of all the chaos, hundreds of people have been killed. Dozens of police officers have also died, leading the police to quit working and threaten not to return unless they are guaranteed to be safe.

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📺Russia YouTube outage: On Thursday, a mass YouTube outage was reported in Russia. Many people said they could only access the site using VPNs, if at all. Russian officials haven’t commented, and neither has Google.

🌏Japan earthquake: A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit near southern Japan on Thursday. Although there were only minor injuries, people are now more worried about the potential for much bigger earthquakes to hit the area in the future. University of Tokyo seismologist Naoshi Hirata warned that there is a 70-80% chance of a magnitude 8 or 9 quake hitting in the next 30 years.

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📉Nikkei crash: Japan’s Nikkei stock market dropped 12.4% this week, the worst day for the index since “Black Monday” in 1987. While there was a brief rally afterward that had some people’s hopes up, it didn’t last long, and the Nikkei 225 closed down 0.7% on Thursday.

🍚Matsuya comes to Hong Kong: If you’re a fan of the Japanese fast-food chain Matsuya and live in Hong Kong, we’ve got some good news. The brand, well-known for its affordable beef rice and other Japanese meal sets, is opening a branch in Hong Kong’s Jordan this weekend at Chung’s London Plaza. There will be a soft opening on Saturday before it officially opens on Sunday.

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