While the rates were kept low in the hope of shoring up growth at home, the money flow is global.

Investors, flush with trillions in cheap funding obtained at home, flowed the money abroad to emerging markets into equities, commodities and other asset classes, including real estate.

Though nowhere as acute as the situation in Hong Kong, housing affordability had also fallen drastically in Malaysia during the era of easy money. The median house price grew at a 23.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2012 and 2014, more than double the 11.7% CAGR of median household income, according to data from Khazanah Research Institute. That income growth isn’t catching up with the rise in house prices was also the conclusion of a 2017 study by Bank Negara Malaysia.