Hong Kong Housing Costs Hit World's Highest as Livability Ranking Slides

Hong Kong has reclaimed its status as the world's most expensive place to buy a home, with city-center apartments now costing $27,753 per square meter, according to Deutsche Bank's Mapping the World's Prices 2026 report. That figure puts the city ahead of Zurich, Seoul, Singapore and Geneva — and no other market comes close, even after prices fell roughly 25% from their 2021 peak.

What changed

The city's property market is recovering after a prolonged slide. Prices rose 3.7% across 2025 — the first annual increase since the market topped out — and the Rating and Valuation Department recorded eight straight months of year-on-year gains through January 2026. Major banks including J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley forecast a further 10% to 15% price growth in 2026, per Reuters.

Affordability remains extreme. Demographia's survey has ranked Hong Kong the world's least affordable housing market for 16 consecutive years, at 14.1 times median annual income for a standard flat. UBS's Global Real Estate Bubble Index reached the same figure.

At the same time, livability is falling. Deutsche Bank dropped the city to 55th of 69 cities for quality of life, down from 48th, citing housing costs, pollution and long commutes that offset otherwise high salaries.

What it means for nomads

For remote workers, the numbers are sobering. Central one-bedroom rents run $1,800 to $2,200 a month, meaning a one-year lease in a central district costs roughly $22,000 to $26,000 in rent alone — before the forecast rent pressure through 2026 kicks in.

Cost-of-living aggregators put a single person's monthly budget at $2,400 to $2,761 before discretionary spending, while local guides estimate a modest single-expat lifestyle at HK$30,000 to HK$50,000 (about $3,830 to $6,380) a month, driven almost entirely by rent. Couples and families face substantially higher figures. Mercer's 2024 Cost of Living Survey already ranked Hong Kong the most expensive city in the world for expatriates.

The city still scores strongly where remote work matters most — nomad platforms rate it 10/10 on internet and 9/10 on safety — but affordability sits near 4/10. That split makes Hong Kong a viable base largely for high earners rather than budget-conscious remote workers.

The bottom line

Hong Kong continues to offer world-class infrastructure, connectivity and safety, but the cost of living has moved beyond the reach of most location-independent workers watching their budgets. With prices expected to climb further in 2026, regional alternatives like Seoul and Singapore are increasingly attractive for those seeking a comparable Asian hub at a lower — though still not cheap — price point. Anyone considering a longer stay should model the full year of rent and living costs carefully before committing.

Originally reported by Stamped Nomad.