New global research from Habitat for Humanity finds 3 in 4 people are cutting back on essentials to afford housing. Concern about extreme weather is highest in Asia-Pacific, and in Nepal, 35% have put off home improvements that would reduce the effects of extreme weather, because of housing costs.
MANILA, Oct 6, 2026 - (ACN Newswire) - The cost of housing is forcing millions of people into difficult trade-offs, at the expense of food, healthcare, financial security and major life decisions. That's according to Home at What Cost new global research from Habitat for Humanity International, which draws on nationally representative surveys in 22 countries, including Australia, Indonesia, Nepal and South Korea, and the views of more than 30,000 people.
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Three in 4 people (75%) say they have cut back on at least one expense in the past year to afford housing costs, rising to 89% among people living in informal arrangements and 85% among lower-income groups. One-third (33%) have spent less on food, 32% have dipped into savings or emergency funds, 31% have taken on extra work, and 13% have delayed or avoided medical care. Nearly half (48%) say one unexpected problem could threaten their ability to stay housed, 40% accept some level of housing risk because safer options are out of reach, and 56% say the housing system in their country is broken.
"A home should never come at the cost of your health or your future. It should be the foundation of health, opportunity and financial security. Yet more than half of people believe the housing system in their country is broken or simply isn't working for them," said Jonathan Reckford, chief executive officer of Habitat for Humanity International. "We cannot accept a future where people have to lower their expectations for what a home should provide. The research shows why we need governments, businesses and communities to work together to create housing systems that help people build a future instead of simply surviving the present."
In Asia-Pacific, the hidden cost is climate resilience
Across the four countries surveyed in Asia-Pacific, 38% say extreme weather makes it hard to feel safe where they live, the highest of any region. Thirty-nine percent expect extreme weather to make living where they are harder over the next three years, against 30% globally. For some, housing costs stand in the way of preparing their homes. Across the 22 countries surveyed, one in six people (16%) have delayed or avoided home improvements that would reduce the effects of extreme weather because of housing costs. In Nepal, that figure is 35%. The UN Environment Programme identifies Asia-Pacific as home to eight of the ten countries most vulnerable to disasters.
"A home cannot withstand a storm if a family cannot afford to repair the roof, strengthen the walls or improve drainage. Across Asia-Pacific, housing affordability is increasingly a resilience issue. Families cannot make the improvements they need if housing costs have already exhausted the resources they have available," said Elizabeth Satow, Habitat for Humanity International's area vice president for Asia and the Pacific. "Climate adaptation is not only an engineering or structural challenge. It is an affordability, housing finance, and systems challenge. If we want homes that can withstand worsening climate risks, resilience must be something ordinary households can afford and access."
The findings come weeks after flash floods swept through communities along the Trishuli and Bhote Koshi river corridors in Rasuwa, Nuwakot, and Dhading on August 26, taking lives, displacing families and destroying homes. Seventy-two percent of people surveyed in Nepal say extreme weather makes it hard to feel safe where they live, and 70% expect it to make living where they are harder over the next three years, against 30% globally for both.
Kusum, 26, from Nepal, has lived with the threat of disaster for a decade-first the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, then severe flooding and landslides in 2024. Today, she lives with her husband and young son in a newly constructed home. "Just as a heartbeat keeps a person alive, a house protects a person's life" she said. "That's what a house means."
Beyond climate: Futures on hold
Across the four countries, housing costs are also reshaping people's health, family plans and hopes of ownership:
- Nepal: Nearly 3 in 10 respondents (28%) reported delaying or avoiding medical care because of housing related financial pressures, more than double the global level of 13%. While 68% of respondents said that their housing situation is one of the biggest sources of stress in their lives.
- Indonesia: 82% percent of parents or guardians in informal arrangements worry that housing costs are limiting opportunities they can give the children under their care.
- South Korea: 62% of people surveyed said that rising housing costs make it difficult for people to become homeowners. Among Gen Z and Millennials surveyed, 45% say housing costs make it difficult to consider starting a family, compared with 22% among older generations.
- Australia: 75% among Gen Z respondents say that housing costs make starting a family difficult; Nearly 4 in 10 (39%) say remaining where they live means giving up personal goals or opportunities, while 42% report having to choose between housing costs and essentials such food, clothing, and medication.
"The pressure looks different in Sydney than it does in Kathmandu, but the underlying story is the same. Housing costs are shaping what people can plan for or hope for, whether that's protecting their home from disaster or starting a family," Satow said. "Safe, decent and affordable housing is the foundation for all of it."
The report includes a more detailed breakdown of these findings, including regional and demographic-specific data. To find out more, visit habitat.org/homeatwhatcost.
About Habitat for Humanity
Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has supported more than 65 million people around the world build, improve or finance places to call home. In Asia-Pacific, Habitat has worked since 1983 alongside people of all walks of life to build, repair and finance homes, develop new ways to improve housing access, and advocate for policies that make adequate housing easier to build and access.
Contact
(Ms.) Rona Azucena
Communications Manager - Habitat for Humanity International
razucena@habitat.org
+639165458310 (Also available in WhatsApp)
Source: Habitat for Humanity International
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