The financial strain of housing weighs more heavily on Filipinos than on residents of any other emerging Asian economy, according to data from a 2025 Gallup survey cited by The Economist — a finding that challenges assumptions about where the world’s most unaffordable housing is concentrated.
The Economist notes that the steepest housing costs relative to incomes are not found in wealthy nations but in developing ones. Gallup’s survey data places the Philippines at the bottom of the affordability rankings among emerging markets, with roughly 54 percent of Filipino respondents reporting housing-related financial difficulties. Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, South Korea, Nepal, Indonesia, China, and Singapore follow in that order.
The numbers on the ground in Manila reflect the broader pattern. Urban Land Institute, a Hong Kong-based real estate research firm, found that quality apartment units in the capital cost around 20 times the median household income — a ratio that puts homeownership effectively out of reach for most residents.
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte, quoted in The Economist’s report, pointed to a structural incentive problem driving the shortage of lower-cost homes: developers find higher-end projects more profitable and are therefore reluctant to build affordable housing.
The gap is not being filled by government programs, either. A June 2025 report from the Philippine Resource Center for Inclusive Development found that the country’s socialized housing program remains out of financial reach for the poorest households, and that it relies too heavily on private sector participation to function as a genuine safety net.
