Asia’s affordable housing problem

Australia's government is winding back tax incentives for property investors in a bid to make housing more affordable - but will it work?

From Sydney to Seoul, Bangkok to Beijing, housing affordability has become one of the biggest economic and political issues facing young people across Asia Pacific.

In many major cities, home prices have risen far faster than incomes, leaving many first-time buyers feeling locked out of the market.

Australia is now changing long-standing tax rules that critics say encouraged property investment and pushed up prices. But will those reforms actually make housing more affordable? And what lessons can be learned from other countries that have tried to intervene?

In this episode, Mariko Oi speaks to Asia Specific editor Bill Birtles and BBC Journalist Abhiram Subramaniam about Australia's housing reforms, the affordability crisis across Asia, why governments from South Korea to China have struggled to bring prices under control.

They also explore Singapore's unique public housing system, where around 80% of residents live in government-built homes, and ask whether the model could ever be replicated elsewhere.

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