Study after study finds Hong Kong is the world’s most expensive housing market - by a lot. According to one recent survey, the median home here cost 18 times the gross annual median income. On one hand, it’s a simple game of supply and demand. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places in the world. It’s comprised of more than 200 islands. Most of them are uninhabitable. Hong Kong is one of the world’s financial hubs and the de facto access point into the world’s most populous country, China. There’s very little developable land here, and a large part of it is controlled by the government. Hong Kong’s government offers land to developers by tender. It’s done all behind the scenes and whoever bids highest wins.