In Hong Kong, the city with the world's most expensive home prices, the value of owning "one home," long a symbol of success, is fading.
According to the Hong Kong travel value report 2026 by global financial group Standard Chartered, which on the 11th (local time) asked 1,058 Hong Kong residents age 30 and older to choose three life goals, "buying a home" ranked only seventh among life goals chosen by Hong Kong's upper-middle class this year.
Standard Chartered conducted the survey by classifying as upper-middle class those with liquid assets exceeding 200,000 Hong Kong dollars (about 36 million won) or investable asset of 1 million to 7.8 million Hong Kong dollars (about 180 million to 1.4 billion won), and as high-net-worth individuals those with more than 7.8 million Hong Kong dollars. The top life priority chosen by the largest share of all respondents was early retirement (49%). That was followed by "deep, immersive travel" (48%) and "physical and mental health" (47%). Only 24% said "buying a first home or getting the home I wanted," placing it seventh.
Hong Kong upper-middle-class and high-net-worth individuals did not see money spent on travel as consumption that disappears but as an investment that pays back later. More than half of respondents said "travel is a form of investment." Among high-net-worth individuals in particular, the share viewing travel as an investment rose to 72%. In practice, Hong Kong high-net-worth individuals said "we spend an average of 30,000 Hong Kong dollars a month (about 5.4 million won) on travel alone." Among them, 80% cited "not seeing more of the world," rather than "not saving more money," as their biggest regret when young.
Anshul Sabharwal, head of credit cards and personal loans for Standard Chartered Hong Kong, said on the 11th, "As of June this year, the number of Cathay Mastercard upper-tier members increased by more than 30% from a year earlier, and card spending rose by more than 40%." He added, "About 60% of respondents use miles for seat upgrades or longer trips."
When asked what they would pass on to their children, Hong Kong residents at least upper-middle class prioritized experiences over homes. Among Hong Kong residents who identified as parents, 90% cited overseas travel as the most meaningful investment they could give their children, ahead of tutoring or other private education. Standard Chartered said in the report, "They call memories built through travel an experiential asset," adding, "The scope of inheritances is no longer confined to tangible assets."
Just four years ago, owning a home in Hong Kong was close to a basic qualification for entry into the upper-middle class. When global financial group HSBC asked 1,000 Hong Kong people a similar question in 2022, they replied that to be recognized as middle class in Hong Kong, one must "have 5.9 million Hong Kong dollars in liquid assets (about 1.06 billion won) and own a home." Some 76% of respondents saw real estate as "an effective way to preserve wealth," and two-thirds of respondents owned an average of 1.4 homes as an asset. In the HSBC survey, 41% of Hong Kong people said, "I would buy a home even if I had to cut luxury expenditure."
However, Hong Kong people's view of real estate as a means of asset defense flipped in the following year's survey. When HSBC in 2023 asked the same question to 1,098 Hong Kong people with liquid assets of at least 1 million Hong Kong dollars (about 180 million won), the share saying real estate preserves asset value fell to 53%, down 23 percentage points in a year. Some 59% said, "Due to volatility in the real estate market and rising interest rates, we turned to other investments." And 68% said, "We fear interest rates will rise further."
Because the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the U.S. dollar, when the United States raises its benchmark rate, Hong Kong lending rates follow without delay. After the United States began raising rates in March 2022 to tame inflation, the interest borne by Hong Kong homeowners swelled rapidly. As listings hit the market from owners unable to withstand the interest burden, private home prices in Hong Kong at one point fell nearly 30% from the peak in September 2021.
Since last year, Hong Kong home prices have turned upward again. According to the Hong Kong government, private home prices rose for 13 straight months through June this year, recovering to the highest level since September 2023. The increase in the first half of this year was 7.9%, the highest since 2019. Even so, prices are still 19% below the September 2021 peak. Both upper-middle-class and high-net-worth Hong Kong buyers who purchased at the top have not recovered principal even after five years.
The South China Morning Post (SCMP), citing experts, said, "The long-held formula that buying a home beyond one's means would eventually pay off has broken down among the upper-middle class and above," and added, "This shift in perception persisted even in this survey conducted not during a real estate slump but in a rebound phase."
If those at least upper-middle class have lost reasons to buy homes in advance, median-income households and Hong Kong residents in their 30s are failing even to clear the threshold to homeownership. An analysis by the University of Hong Kong's business school of 40 years of government household surveys found that, as of 2024, to buy a 500-square-foot (about 14 pyeong) private home, a median household would need 18.2 years of annual income on Hong Kong Island, 16.3 years in Kowloon, and 14.0 years in the New Territories, the outlying area bordering China. That is longer than the 13.9 years it took owner households in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in 2024 to save up for a home (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport housing survey). Twenty-one years earlier, in 2003, the same home in Hong Kong could be bought by saving 7.4, 5.3 and 5.2 years' income, respectively. In a report, University of Hong Kong business school professor Wang Bolin and other researchers assessed that "even private homes of basic quality have become entirely unaffordable for Hong Kong's median-income households."
Experts said Hong Kong's "secondary formula of wealth," in which buying a home once solved social mobility, asset building and retirement planning at once, has loosened simultaneously at the top and bottom. This is interpreted to mean that the notion of real estate as the only asset proving life success has weakened, while a shift has emerged that places higher value on using time, health and experience.
Helena Chen, Mastercard's head for Hong Kong and Macao, said on the 11th, "In Mastercard's survey as well, 59% of affluent consumers preferred experiences to buying goods, and 46% cited time spent with loved ones as a key personal goal," adding, "Demand for experience-centered travel is growing among the affluent."