Key Points
- Australia and the US have dominated global housing unaffordability rankings.
- Three Australian cities are ranked as ‘impossibly unaffordable’.
- Two others are listed as ‘severely unaffordable’.
The Chapman University Frontier Centre for Public Policy’s Demographia International Housing Affordability report uses what it terms the median multiple — a ratio of median incomes to median house prices — to assign a number value to a city’s unaffordability.
Source: SBS News
Across eight countries — Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom and the US — Hong Kong was the most unaffordable city with a median multiple of 16.7.
Sydney was second on the list with a median multiple of 13.3, followed by Vancouver at 12.3, San Jose at 11.9, Los Angeles at 10.9, Honolulu at 10.5, Melbourne at 9.8, San Francisco and Adelaide at 9.7, San Diego and 9.5, and Toronto at 9.3.
Source: SBS News
The US’ Pittsburgh, Rochester and St Louis were the three most affordable cities.
Home values nationally have risen by more than 35 per cent since the pandemic kicked off in 2020 but growth has not been spread evenly, according to real estate data company CoreLogic.
Price growth across hotspots Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide has vastly outpaced gains posted in other urban centres, including Hobart, Melbourne, Canberra, Darwin and Sydney.
Existential threat
None of the 94 cities measured by Demographia’s international report were listed as ‘affordable’.
Source: SBS News
The report describes an “existential threat to the middle class”.
“The crisis stems principally from land use policies that artificially restrict housing supply, driving up land prices and making home ownership unattainable for many.”
With additional reporting by AAP.