(Yicai Global) July 24 -- The average house price was 13.6 times greater than average income across China's 50 biggest cities in the first half of this year, down 2.2 percent from a year earlier.

The ratio in Shenzhen was the highest at 36.1, making it the country's most difficult to work and buy a home in, according to a report published by E-house China's research institute yesterday. Sanya, Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen followed with ratios of 30, 24.9, 24.6 and 22.

House prices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen -- all first-tier cities -- have been high for some time and showed little signs of declining because of a lack of land and limited new supplies, the report said, adding that the figure is rising in tourist hot spots Sanya and Xiamen due to investment demand from buyers across the country.

Guangzhou, another of China's economic powerhouses, had a much lower ratio at 16.8, largely due to an ample supply of land and therefore lower property prices.

The lowest ratio among the 50 cities was 6.4 in Changsha, provincial capital of Hunan and a major region along the middle stretches of the Yangtze River. The city's economy has been booming in recent years and per-capita disposable income has been rising much faster than house prices, the report added. Changsha was the only city with a ratio lower than 7.

The fastest risers were all second-tier cities: Yangzhou, Yantai, Rizhao, Xi'an and Nantong. Their ratios grew by 18 percent, 16.1 percent, 15 percent, 14.5 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively.

Editors: Dou Shicong, James Boynton