Australia is not the only country in Asia facing a housing crisis. One of the reasons many analysts are sceptical about China’s latest stimulus package – its most aggressive since the Covid-19 pandemic erupted – is the scale and severity of the downturn in the residential market. At the end of last year, Nomura estimated the number of pre-sold but unfinished properties had reached a staggering 20 million units.
House prices in Hong Kong are down almost 30 per cent from their peak in 2021. However, the city was still the least-affordable housing market last year among eight of the world’s leading property markets for the 14th year running, according to Demographia. Some Asian central banks are wary of cutting interest rates because of pressures from overheated property markets that are exacerbating the deterioration in affordability.
However, Australia’s housing crisis is the most severe among Asia’s advanced economies. That Australia is part of the Anglosphere and is one of the most transparent commercial property markets in Asia underscores the importance of the crisis as a theme in global real estate markets, particularly at a time when investors and developers are focused on the living sector.
