Homes in many major cities are getting pricier

Cities around the globe are facing a stark reality: There are not enough affordable places for people to live.

Housing in most big urban areas is now considered out of reach for the average worker, fuelling a growing sense that a decent home has become a privilege traded among the "haves", impoverishing the "have-nots".

questions Thorny abound: Should new luxury apartments in London - many owned by foreigners - be allowed to lie empty, while thousands of people sit on waiting lists for affordable homes? If migrants streaming into Beijing for a better life turn to dangerous, illegal dwellings, where will they go when those places are demolished? The worst may be yet to come.

The share of the world's population living in cities is projected to reach 68 per cent by 2050, up from 55 per cent today.

THE SITUATION

Rising prices have made homes in 58 per cent of major cities significantly unaffordable, compared with less than half five years ago, according to an annual study by research firm Demographia. That means it costs more than 4.1 times median annual income to buy a median-priced home.

A typical apartment in Hong Kong now costs HK$7,169,000 (S$1.2 million), which has helped fuel political protests. Other hot spots include Berlin, where a grassroots campaign to nationalise housing led to a radical plan to freeze rents for five years.