Bad times are getting even worse for Hong Kong‘s homemakers with a comparative survey showing it is now harder to own an apartment here than in other major cities of the world.

The report released Wednesday claims that your average Hongkonger has to spend 10 times their annual income to buy an apartment — the worst rating of 272 metropolitan cities around the world which were surveyed.

HK’s largest English-language daily newspaper, the South China Morning Post, commissioned the public policy consultancy firm Demographia to expand their annual look into world housing prices to include the city for the first time this year

And the results have come as another blow to home-owning hopefuls, just as it has also been revealed that rents in the city have shot back to the sort of levels experienced before the world’s recent financial crisis.

Hong Kong also received a “severely unaffordable” rating, alongside the likes of London, Sydney and New York.

The rating is arrived at by dividing median house prices by gross annual median household incomes.

In Hong Kong that means a median apartment price of HK$2.18 million (209 000 euros) and a median annual income of HK$210,000 (20,200 euros).

Hong Kong’s 10.4 rating is more than double the five that Demographia says reflects “severely unaffordable” prices. Four is said to be “seriously unaffordable” while three or below is rated “afforable’.’

As well as Hong Kong, Demographia’s survey this year looked into housing prices in cities in the United States, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

How they rated (figure shows number of years of household income it took to buy an apartment last year):

Hong Kong – 10.4; Vancouver – 9.3; Sydney – 9.1; Melbourne – 8; London – 7.1; New York – 7; Los Angeles 5.7; Toronto – 5.2; Miami – 4.4; Washington – 3.8.

*Median flat prices divided by median household income.

Source: AFPrelaxnews – Photos: Hong Kong Real Estate