When a fire swept through his overcrowded tenement above the Ladies Market in Hong Kong's densely packed Kowloon district last week, Wong Kam-hoi ran for his life through a maze of narrow hallways.

He and his wife were among the lucky survivors who escaped cubicle-style flats on Fa Yuen Street as the fire raged on Wednesday morning. Nine of his neighbours were killed and more than 30 were injured, four critically.

The next day, Wong registered for government assistance. But the one thing he needs more than anything else to put his life back together -- an apartment he can afford -- is the one thing that seems out of reach.

"I no longer want to live in cubicles, especially those with hawker stalls below. I hope to move to a public housing estate," he told AFP outside a community centre set up to help survivors of the fire.

Faced with soaring property prices and stagnant wages, Wong is one of an unknown number of Hong Kong residents forced to live in tiny, cell-like flats known as cubicles.

Cubicle-dwellers on the floors above the Ladies Market had the most difficult escapes, through tiny corridors and down dead-end stairwells jammed with illegally stored goods.

Many of the victims died of suspected smoke inhalation in a single stairwell that appeared to have been blocked.

The government knows cubicles pose fire risks and are breeding grounds for diseases such as tuberculosis, but it refuses to ban their construction in desultory recognition that many citizens have few other housing options.

They can be barely big enough to lie down in and cost less than US$200 a month. That's cheap, but for landlords they actually offer higher yields than luxury apartments.

"The more packed the cubicles are, the more dangerous it is," said Chan Siu-ming, a social worker who has been living in a cubicle in Kowloon for around six months to better understand the plight of Hong Kong's "equity poor".

"Cubicle residents who live near the end of corridors, whose rooms are separated by wooden plates and have no windows for ventilation, are particularly in danger. They have very little chance to escape."

Officials have pointed the finger at market traders for ignoring fire regulations put in place after an inferno on the same street last year, which destroyed dozens of stalls and injured several people. Both fires are suspected to have been acts of arson, possibly linked to disputes between stall owners.

"We are now reviewing very seriously how additional measures could be adopted to enhance the management and public safety of these street stalls and to protect the rights of residents nearby," Chief Secretary Stephen Lam said.

There is talk of tougher penalties for market traders who flout fire regulations. But many cubicle dwellers blame the government for leaving people with no option but to live in death traps, and for prioritising property developers' profits over the need for affordable housing.

"I hate it when the government always says it's a matter of insufficient supervision," said Chan. "It should understand that so many people are living in sub-divided flats because of the limited supply of public housing."

He says his neighbours are "scared about what happened in Fa Yuen Street... They feel helpless because cubicles are the only place they can afford to live in."

Famously wealthy and brazenly capitalist, Hong Kong's glittering harbourside skyscrapers and shopping streets crowded with luxury stores come at a price -- a wealth gap among the widest in the world.

In no other sector is it more apparent than property.

Of Hong Kongs 2.34 million households, 30.8 percent live in cheap, public rental housing, according to official figures. Another 16.2 percent are in subsidised flats and 52.4 percent are in private housing.

A deposit on an entry-level unit amounts to more than three times a typical first-time buyer's gross household income, Barclays Capital Research said in a recent report.

Home prices have leapt more than 70 percent since 2009, while banks have increased mortgage rates five times since March, pricing all but the wealthiest investors out of the market.

A Macquarie Equities Research report released late last month painted a stark picture of decreasing housing affordability, and warned of social unrest unless the government responded.

"Contrary to common belief, land supply is not tight," the report said, citing government promises to make available land sufficient to develop 40,000 residential units a year regardless of market conditions.

The problem is that much of the land will be sold to private developers who are mainly interested in wealthy households, the top 4.2 percent that earn more than HK$100,000 ($13,000) a month.

"They are the key demand driver in the primary market and developers target mainly this group," the Macquarie analysts wrote.

But even this privileged segment of the market is being squeezed by wealthier investors from mainland China.

Developers need only 7,000 local rich buyers each year to take up supply of their up-market developments, Macquarie calculated.

The remainder are snapped up by mainlanders, who could account for as much as 50 percent of the premium property market in the next three years.

"In sharp contrast the purchasing power of Hong Kong locals is weakening due to sluggish income growth and rising ... interest rates," Macquarie said.

"Deprivation and feelings of inequality are bigger issues than the property bubble."

Analysts say property prices have started to fall but not yet by the 30 percent required to bring them back within reach of average household incomes.

With elections due next year, the housing debate is likely to take centre stage.

Leung Chun-ying, a candidate for the top job of chief executive, was quick to visit survivors of the Fa Yuen Street fire last week.

"The rent of a 300 square foot unit has already risen 90 percent but the salary of Hong Kong people has not increased," he told reporters.

"This is putting a burden on the people, and it is due to the housing supply in Hong Kong."