Keep Saving, Hong Kongers

It takes around 35 years for a median-income household to buy a 90-square-meter (970 square foot) apartment in Hong Kong. So, by 2052 in other words. That makes the former British colony the world's least affordable city, according to Oxford Economics. Now, with Chinese buyers forking out ever-higher amounts for land sold by the government and outbidding domestic stalwarts, prospective home buyers are going to have to wait a whole lot longer.

A stamp-duty hike in November to 15 percent for all non-first-time home buyers and to as much as 30 percent for foreigners hasn't dulled the market. Secondary home prices surged almost 40 percent between July 2012 and the end of last year, Centaline Property's Centa-City Leading Index shows, just 1.8 percent shy of their September 2015 record.