10 Trends as Home Attainability Remains Constrained

ULI Asia Pacific has released its 2025 Asia Pacific Home Attainability Index, revealing persistent challenges to affordable or accessible housing across the region. The fourth edition of the report assesses 51 market segments across 41 major cities.

Home attainability in the context of this report means median home prices which are no more than five times median annual household income and median monthly rents which are no more than 30 percent on median monthly income.

“Four years of ULI analysis paint a consistent and concerning picture: attaining affordable and adequate housing remains out of reach for far too many across our dynamic region,” said Alan Beebe, CEO, ULI Asia Pacific. “While rental markets offer a crucial lifeline, the fundamental challenge of purchasing a home persists, particularly in major economic hubs. This year’s Index reinforces that solving this requires government policy, innovative financing, embracing new construction technologies, and practical public-private partnerships focused on delivering diverse housing options at scale.”

“Home attainability remains constrained across the region, despite income growth and price dips in some markets,” said Mark Cooper, Senior Director, Thought Leadership, ULI Asia Pacific and lead author of the report. “This year’s report underscores a deepening divide, with rental housing offering significantly more relief than home purchase, and major cities becoming increasingly exclusive. Hong Kong apartments are still the second most unattainable in the region.”

10 Trends: Asia Pacific’s Housing

1. Home attainability remains constrained across the region: Only seven market segments out of 51 offered home attainability to buyers—homes priced at five times median income or less—in 2024. This is the same number as in 2023. Furthermore, no city in the report scores below four for purchase attainability. Across such a large and diverse region, a crude average of segment attainability scores for 2024 and 2023 is more or less identical (2024: 11.68, 2023:12).

2. Major cities are the most expensive: Only three market segments in major cities across the region offer homes at or less than five times median income: Singapore HDB apartments and apartments in Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur. Singapore is the only capital city to offer attainable homes for purchase.

3. Rental housing is more attainable region-wide: rental homes are considerably more attainable than for-sale properties; 41 out of 51 market segments offer rental homes at below 30% of monthly income. The more expensive segments for rental tend to be in first tier cities in both developed and developing nations, although there are exceptions, such as apartments in Tokyo’s 23 Wards, also known as Tokyo Ku, where rents are only 17% of median income.

The drivers of housing attainability remain the same. Factors affecting demand include population growth, population age profile, household formation, urbanisation, immigration, income growth, the cost and availability of financing, and transaction costs. Factors affecting supply include government provision of housing for sale or rent, the availability and cost of land, the construction materials and labour costs, and the cost and availability of financing, planning regulations, and infrastructure development.

4. Hong Kong scores worst for home attainability: Falling property prices in Hong Kong have made apartments marginally more affordable, they were 23.4 times median annual household income in 2024, compared with 26.5 times in 2022. However, Hong Kong apartments are still the second most unattainable in the region. Meanwhile, average rents are 72% of median monthly income, up from 70% in 2022 and 69% in 2023, as rents have continued to rise.

5. China price drops have boosted attainability, but provided little comfort for buyers: China has seen prices fall in major cities in recent years, but they remain above 10 times household income in all cities covered in this report and above 20 times in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Furthermore, the prospect of prices falling further has kept buyers out of the market.

6. Interest rate cuts have boosted attainability in some markets: Lower interest rates in markets including Australia, Korea and China have made buying a home more attainable. However, the interest rate outlook for the region and the world has become more uncertain in 2025, so the cost of borrowing may remain elevated in many markets. Furthermore, lower interest rates are a double-edged sword, as they also drive higher prices.

7. Government policy leads the way: While the private sector is responsible for delivering the bulk of housing in most markets, the single biggest driver of market conditions is government legislation and regulation. This means boosting housing attainability requires public-private partnerships.

8. The Affordability-Accessibility Divide: In developed markets, homes are unattainable because they are too expensive, however in larger developing markets such as India and Indonesia, there remains a shortage of basic housing for millions of people. The Indonesian government estimates that one-third of households do not have access to adequate housing. There, a public housebuilding programme has not been able to keep pace with population growth.

9. Multifamily Housing’s Untapped Potential: The multifamily residential sector is relatively undeveloped in the Asia Pacific region (except Japan), though growing in China and Australia. This report shows that rental housing is more attainable, thus boosting supply will improve attainability. Furthermore, renting remains very affordable in many markets, with rents less than 25% of monthly income. This suggests potential for the real estate industry to deliver more rental properties and the potential for boosted returns.

There is also increasing demand for related rental residential sectors, such as senior living, co-living, and student accommodation. These could provide additional opportunities for real estate investors and developers, which may contribute to overall housing attainability.

10. Tech’s Promise: Adoption of modular construction, 3D printing, and other proptech lags in housing development but holds significant potential to reduce costs and construction times in the future.

Generational Impact

There are also particular demographics in Tier I cities with greater challenges, particularly younger people and young families. In a city such as Hong Kong, where both rents and prices are high, it is difficult for younger people to save enough to buy a home. Meanwhile, in many cities, elderly people find housing just as unattainable as their younger fellow citizens. There is clearly potential for further investigation of the housing challenges which face different generations.

ULI HAI Report 2025_Finalised_9 July.pdf

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Source: Urban Land

Vietnam still enjoys cost advantage in furniture

The 17% tariff the US is poised to charge Philippine goods, while favorable compared to rest of the region, is not enough to overcome Vietnam’s cost advantage in furniture, the Chamber of Furniture Industries of the Philippines (CFIP) said.

CFIP Director General Ajun L. Valenzuela said that the Vietnam price advantage over equivalent Philippine goods is about 40%.

“Vietnam’s prices are much cheaper,” he said in a phone interview, adding: “our price difference with Vietnam is around 40%.”

Vietnam’s furniture exports totaled $16 billion in 2024, against Philippine exports of $200 million.

Vietnamese goods will be charged a 46% tariff starting July if it does not negotiate more favorable terms.

The tariff differential “is also good for us because it will make our prices at par with the Vietnam price, but it is not a solution,” he added.

The so-called reciprocal tariffs imposed on US trading partners announced in early April have been suspended for 90 days. In the interim, the US will charge most trading partners a 10% baseline rate.

According to Mr. Valenzuela, the Philippines still has an opportunity “to attract US buyers seeking alternatives to Vietnamese suppliers.”

“We can rely on our strengths: the unique craftsmanship, the indigenous materials, and the reputation or quality… especially in niche and premium segments,” he added.

The US is the largest export destination of Philippine furniture, accounting for $99 million, or 49.7% of the total. The other top markets include the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, and France.

He said it is possible that Singapore, which was assigned a 10% reciprocal tariff, “may act as a re-export hub for Vietnamese furniture.”

“We know for a fact that Singapore is not a furniture manufacturing country, so they sourced before from China, and now they will be sourcing from Vietnam. So, it potentially dilutes the Philippines competitive edge if rules of origin are not strictly enforced,” he added.

“There is also a risk that Vietnamese and Chinese furniture, now less competitive in the US, could be redirected to the Philippines,” he said.

“This could lead to import flooding, increased competition, and downward pressure on prices here,” he added.

The Philippine cost disadvantage lies mainly in labor, he said.

“The Philippine average monthly manufacturing wage is significantly higher than Vietnam’s. In the Philippines it is $420-$450, while Vietnam’s labor cost is only $300-$350,” he said.

“Labor cost makes it difficult for Philippine producers to compete on price, especially for large-scale commoditized orders,” he added.

He said the industry is also disadvantaged in terms of scale, with Filipino small and medium enterprises unable to expand.

He said high electricity costs are also a concern for the furniture sector, along with the sourcing of raw materials.

“Vietnam benefits from proximity to large plantations and easy access to imported timber through established supply chains, while we rely on imported wood,” he said.

He said that the exemption of wood and wood products under the new US tariff regime will allow Philippine manufacturers to import sustainable and certified solid wood from the US at a very competitive rate.

He said establishing Philippine brands in the US market will require sustained investment in marketing, compliance, and relationship-building.

Source: Business World

PHL a top climber in trade facilitation rankings

The Philippines was among the “lead reformers” in the Asia-Pacific region on trade facilitation, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a report.

Trade facilitation refers to measures that streamline and simplify technical and legal procedures for products at the border.

According to the OECD’s 2025 Trade Facilitation Indicators, the Philippines scored 14.97 across 11 indicators, putting it among the “leading reformers” like Laos, Kiribati, Cambodia, Maldives, Tonga, Vanuatu, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The “lead reformers” refer to countries that had the highest percentage change between their average trade facilitation performance in 2022-2024 from 2020-2022.

The Philippines ranked 15th out of 33 Asia-Pacific countries.

“Being one of the fastest nations to adopt positive reforms on trade facilitation is a welcome sign that the country is catching up with its neighboring countries,” Oikonomia Advisory and Research, Inc. economist Reinielle Matt M. Erece said.

However, Mr. Erece emphasized that the Philippines must cut red tape and embrace digital integration to sustain its progress.

“Improvements in these areas will ensure faster trade activity while improving security and transparency on the borders,” he added.

The leading performers in the region in 2024 were Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia; New Zealand, China, Malaysia, Thailand, and India, the OECD said.

Overall, South Korea was the best performer in the Asia-Pacific region with a 20.83 score, while the Federal States of Micronesia was last with a 3.41 score.

The OECD said nearly one in two economies in the Asia-Pacific improved their performance in areas of domestic border agency co-operation and information availability.

“The report shows that border bottlenecks and red tape, as measured by the OECD, were reduced on average by 3%-7% since 2022 across the 163 countries and regions covered,” it said.

The OECD also added that this resulted in trade facilitation reforms that reduced trade costs by up to 5% over the last decade.

trade indicators 2025.pdf

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Source: Business World