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The Philippines slipped two places to 62nd out of 146 countries in the latest edition of the Global Attractiveness Index (GAI) by The European House – Ambrosetti.
With an overall score of 34.1 out of 100, the country was categorized under “medium attractiveness.”
The index measures the attractiveness of countries using key performance indicators under four subindices: positioning, dynamicity, sustainability, and future orientation.
Source: Business World
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.
Source: Urban Land
The Philippine labor market improved in May, latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed, with the labor force participation rate rising to its highest in 20 years and both unemployment and underemployment going down.
The jobless rate eased to 3.9 percent from 4.1 percent in April and a year ago, with the count of those without work falling to 2.03 million from 2.06 million and 2.11 million a month and a year earlier.
Underemployment, which counts those wanting additional hours of work, additional job, or a new job with longer hours, slipped to 13.1 percent from 14.6 percent in April.
It was, however, well above the 9.9 percent recorded in May last year.
In terms of magnitude, 6.60 million of the 50.29 million individuals with jobs were classified as underemployed. Of this, 59.2 percent worked fewer than 40 hours a week, the PSA said, while the remaining 40.8 percent were employed for 40 hours or more.
The number of employed persons rose from 48.67 million in April and 48.87 million in May 2024. This brought the employment rate to 96.1 percent, slightly higher than the 95.9 percent recorded in both April this year and May 2024.
The services sector remained the dominant source of employment, accounting for 61.8 percent of all jobs in May. This was followed by agriculture at 21.1 percent and industry at 17.1 percent.
Wholesale and retail trade and the repair of motor vehicles accounted for the largest share of jobs at 19.8 percent, followed by agriculture and forestry at 18.8 percent and construction at 9.5 percent.
The biggest year-on-year gains in employment were seen in wholesale and retail trade, which added 489,000 jobs. This was followed by agriculture and forestry with 469,000, administrative and support service activities with 371,000, accommodation and food services with 365,000, and other service activities with 175,000.
The manufacturing sector suffered the most job losses, shedding 374,000 positions from the previous year. Construction followed with a loss of 298,000 jobs while mining and quarrying, public administration and defense and water supply and waste management also recorded annual declines.
The labor force participation rate (LFPR), meanwhile, climbed to 65.8 percent in May, up from 64.8 percent in the same month last year and 63.7 percent in April 2025. This translates to 52.32 million Filipinos aged 15 years and older who were either employed or actively seeking work — the largest labor force recorded since April 2005.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said this was the highest LFPR since 2005.
“We welcome this development in labor force participation because it indicates a healthy and competitive Philippine labor market,” Balisacan said in a statement.
“Generally, a larger workforce can lead to increased economic output and potentially higher GDP (gross domestic product) growth, as more people contribute to the economy.”
Balisacan said the government’s ongoing push for key infrastructure flagship projects would help close development gaps and attract more investments that can generate jobs.
He also stressed the need to improve how public funds were being used by focusing limited resources on priority areas such as quality education, healthcare, food security and connectivity infrastructure.
Source: Manila Times