(Yicai Global) April 21 -- Shenzhen’s housing price-to-income ratio, which measures the affordability of property for the average resident, hit a record high of 48.1 percent last year, the most in the country, according to a recent survey.

This is despite a general downward trend nationwide, with the ratio for 78 cities, including the three other first-tier cities Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, narrowing in 2020, according to the Zhuge Housing Data Research Center which analyzed data from 100 municipalities. In 2019, the gap only closed in 14 cities.

The hi-tech metropolis, which borders Hong Kong, has become the most difficult place in the country to buy property with its housing price-to-income ratio jumping each year. In 2018 it was 35.9 percent and in 2019 43.7 percent. A ratio between 3 percent and 6 percent is generally regarded as reasonable.

Shenzhen has attracted a big influx of talent from other parts of the country and there is a limited supply of residential land, driving up real estate prices, said Chen Xiao, an analyst at Zhuge Housing.

Reducing the housing price-to-income ratio is a long-term issue, Hua Hong, director of the development research department at the Shenzhen Real Estate Intermediary Association, told Yicai Global. In the short run, it is necessary to reduce financial leverage and curb real estate speculation, so as to promote the stable and healthy development of Shenzhen's property market.

Editor: Kim Taylor