Infographic：Hong Kong : A cramped city
【明報專訊】Demographia, a public policy institution, released the 2021 International Housing Affordability report in late-February. It rates middle-income housing affordability in 92 major housing markets in eight nations. Do you think most Hong Kong citizens can afford a private property?
◆What is the rank of Hong Kong?
1st, Hong Kong leads the world by having the most unaffordable housing market.
The price-to-income ratio(房價對家庭入息中位數比率) of Hong Kong is 20.7, implying that an average Hong Kong family takes 20.7 years to afford a home.
◆Severely unaffordable major housing markets
There are 36 severely unaffordable major housing markets
(See the table)
◆What is the effect of the pandemic on the housing market?
Demographia contends that the housing prices have escalated amidst the pandemic, meanwhile the income level has dropped for most middle-income households.
The report even quotes words from the International Monetary Fund, claiming that the pandemic would reverse the progress made since the 1990s in reducing global poverty and cause further inequality.
◆Think further
If you were the government, what would you do to increase the land supply? Do you think land reclamation is a good idea to solve the housing problem in Hong Kong?
■Gear up
1. The score was calculated solely based on how expensive the house prices were. (True/False)
2. Vancouver is having a relatively more unaffordable housing market than most places on the chart. (True/False)
(Answer on next text)
■Glossary
affordability (n) 負擔能力
escalate (v) 使……惡化
reverse (v) 逆轉
poverty (n) 貧窮
[Smarties' Power English 第307期]
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