The annual Bloomberg Global City Housing Cost Index still places Hong Kong as the top city in the world with the most expensive houses relative to the population's average income.
UBS Group AG noted in the report that major cities have experienced a surge in housing prices by 35 percent over the course of five years. In Hong Kong, however, prices soared about 10 percent annually for five years. Not even the highly skilled workers can afford to buy their own houses in Hong Kong, the report said.
Bloomberg said a buyer needs to pay an average monthly mortgage payment of $8,000 to own a supposedly modest 1,000 square-foot home for a family of four members.
The annual Bloomberg Global City Housing Cost Index analyzed over 100 cities worldwide and ranked financial centers based on the cost of housing relative to the population's average income.
Other cities on the top ten are New York, London, Geneva, and Singapore. Although in the top 6, the rate of which the housing prices increased in these cities were relatively minimal, the report highlighted.
On the other hand, Beijing and Shanghai made it to the top 10 this year because of the surging property prices in both Chinese cities.
The most "shocking" surge, however, was seen in Toronto. The city has, in fact, climbed 18 places and ranked as the 28th city with the biggest jump in property prices across the world. Vancouver, another Canadian city, jumped 16 places and made it to number 16 in the list.
Still, even with its surprising ascent, Canada's price remained meek if compared to prices in San Francisco and of course Hong Kong.
A separate report from CNBC said the median home price in San Francisco is $1.3 million - which is more than six times the national median home value of $216,700 - while the median monthly rate is $4,500 which is two-and-a-half times the $1,655 national median rent.
San Francisco, however, has a low risk for property bubbles according to the Bloomberg report. Cities at risk of bubbles are Hong Kong, Toronto, Munich, and Vancouver.
Meanwhile, several cities are showing signs of property cooling as they dropped from Bloomberg's top 10 cities with the least affordable housing. These cities are Dubai, Moscow, Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro, and Mumbai.
There are cities in the United States where businesses are notably booming but without affecting the prices of housing, CNBC reported, citing data generated from the real estate website Trulia. These cities are the North Carolinian cities of Raleigh and Charlotte, and the Texan city of Austin.
