The aim of this manuscript is to give a contextual overview of affordable housing market, rather than explain in full detail the complex issue in affordable housing market. A market is defined as a situation or arrangement that brings buyers and sellers into a close contact to exchange goods or services. In the market, the price paid for a good or service is determined by the supply and demand forces. Specifically, a market aims to allocate resources and to maximise the surplus of buyers and sellers. With the market structure, a buyer will not pay more than the value of the good or service ‘earned’. On the other hand, the market allows sellers to maximise their surplus. While the market is the most effective way of allocating resources, it also fails because of factors like price, income distribution and quantity regulation, taxes, subsidies, externalities, public goods, social interests, common resources, monopoly, and high costs of the transaction. In other words, the market mechanisms could also lead to inefficiency [1]. Market failure is a situation where the market does not achieve ‘economic efficiency’ due to delivery of ‘inefficient outcomes’. Therefore, alternative methods (such as first-come-first-served basis, majority rules, context, lottery, personal characteristics, and force) prove to be more efficient. In fact, there is no single mechanism – including the market – that allocates all resources efficiently [2]. Housing is a major industry where price mechanisms or market regulations are applied for efficiency. However, housing provisions are often controlled by governments. But, economists contend that the rent control would create scarcity, increasing both rental costs, encourage black market, search activity, reduce productivity and cost of ownership [2]. But like education and health, housing is an investment and not consumption. Hence, the question to ask, is if the benefit exceeds the cost? Housing is a measure of quality of life. For instance, a country with adequate housing would spend less on the preventions and controls of diseases, security, rehabilitation homes, and enhancement in social integration and economic prosperity. For the pensioners or retirees, housing is to them a security issue. The market capitalisation for housing has a weak mechanism that, if not regulated, is likely to be ineffective and inefficient. However, to invest in housing provision requires households to have funds. This is where the role of government in the housing market is crucial. The government can fill these gaps in a number of ways, including providing housing directly, providing funding without houses, or both. The role of government is therefore multiple or triple. Governments fill these gaps through subsidies, incentives, loans, lands, to both developers and home buyers. From the mainstream economists’ perspective, the market is able to reduce both shortage and surplus in the affordable housing market through price mechanisms; without government intervention. But unfortunately this theory has not worked and neither will the shortage in the housing supply go away if the economic theory only is considered. The immediate question therefore is why is the market unable to correct the housing shortages [and surplus in some cases]? Or can it? Again, the immediate answer is that affordable housing is a market failure; therefore, government has to intervene. Government intervenes in housing allocation through the rent control. Primarily, this is based on income and house price. Government sets a rent ceiling to increase access to homeowners. In market failure situation, equilibrium does not exist.