Housing Crisis Compared UK, Singapore, Vietnam & Japan Price-to-Income Reality

I spent last weekend teaching myself how to read price-to-income ratios across four countries I'm obsessed with: the UK, Singapore, Vietnam, and Japan. The numbers? Honestly wild.

I'm 18, so the "housing crisis" isn't some abstract policy debate—it's the reason my generation jokes about never owning anything except maybe a house deposit spreadsheet. But comparing these four markets showed me something unexpected: we're not all facing the same problem.

The Data I Found

UK: Price-to-income ratio around 8-9x in cities like London, 5-6x in the North. We built 234,000 homes last year—we need 300,000 minimum. The maths doesn't work.

Singapore: Ratio hits 14x for private property, but here's the twist: 80% of residents live in HDB public housing where the government controls supply, pricing, and access. It's expensive, but it's managed.

Vietnam: This is where it gets brutal. Ho Chi Minh City requires 20-25 years of full income to buy a 70m² apartment. A 31-year-old marketing manager earning $1,400/month told me she's been working for 9 years and saved $8,000—barely enough for a down payment on a $120,000-160,000 flat.

Japan: Rural "akiya" (abandoned homes) going for ¥500,000 ($3,500), while Tokyo studio flats cost $400,000+. It's not a crisis—it's a split-screen economy.

What I'm Learning

The UK loves talking about "planning reform," but after comparing our output to Singapore's systematic approach, I'm realizing we're not even playing the same game. Singapore doesn't just build homes—they engineer housing ecosystems with BTOs (Build-To-Order), ethnic quotas to prevent segregation, and aggressive cooling measures when speculation heats up.