Opinion | Island of hope: for crowded, cramped Hong Kong, a huge new island will be a game changer

Hong Kong has been plunged into the depths of a land and housing calamity. Citizens are living in increasingly expensive and cramped conditions. This year, Hong Kong was crowned the city with the least affordable home prices in the world for the eighth consecutive year in an international survey. An average household needs to save 19.4 years’ worth of income without other expenses to buy a flat. Even for low-income households, the average waiting time for public housing has risen to five years and three months, an 18-year peak.

Despite the exorbitant prices, living conditions do not reflect good value for money. Average living space in Hong Kong is only 170 square feet per person, equivalent to less than 1½ parking spaces. This is 25 per cent less than what Tokyo offers, and 60 per cent less than Singapore’s average.

At the same time, population density, a typical indicator of the quality of living, has climbed to 27,400 people per square kilometre of developed land, nearly triple that of Singapore and London, and even exceeding Mumbai’s, despite Hong Kong’s per capita gross domestic product being more than eight times that of Mumbai.