Hong Kong residents may have gotten wealthier in recent years. But a new analysis finds that the city's quality of life continues to slide amid ever-rising, unaffordable property prices.

According to the latest Hong Kong quality of life index compiled by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the university's "housing affordability index" last year reached its lowest point in a decade, even as the unemployment rate improved and average wages rose.

Hong Kong's median monthly domestic household income stood at HK$22,400 (US$2,890) in the fourth quarter of 2013, up 6.2% from a year earlier, according to the census department. Still, the Chinese University's quality of life index fell to the third-lowest level seen since 2002, when the university first launched the index.

"Hong Kong people are working hard to earn money, yet this cannot guarantee an improvement in their quality of life as the housing prices are definitely out of reach," said Terence Chong, associate professor of economics at Chinese University of Hong Kong, who helped compile the index's findings.

"This should be a serious warning [for the government]. Hong Kong's administration has failed to curb the red-hot property market prices despite extensive cooling measures," Mr. Chong said.