If you've been half-awake in the past two decades, you can't have missed the insanity of the housing market. Now, a new report (PDF) from the Demographia International Housing Affordability survey takes it a step further by branding some cities as "impossibly unaffordable."
The report considered the ratio of median house prices to gross median household income to produce the list. Cities in the U.S. West Coast and Hawaii are all in the top ten: San Jose (2), Los Angeles (5), San Francisco (8), San Diego (9), and Honolulu (6) making the cut/.
Crossing the Pacific, Australia isn't faring any better, with Sydney (2), Melbourne (7) and Adelaide (tied with San Francisco at 8) making the list. But the crown jewel of unaffordability is Hong Kong (1).
The report attributes the housing madness to several factors: pandemic-driven demand for homes with more space, restrictive land-use policies, and investors flooding the market.
Feeling priced out? The report also highlights the most affordable cities, including Pittsburgh (1), Rochester, NY (2), and St. Louis (3) in the U.S., Singapore (11) in Asia, and Blackpool, Lancanshire, and Glasgow (all tied for 12) in the U.K.
And there you have it—a list that might just have you rethinking your next move. Or at least your next Zillow search.
The top 10 "impossibly unaffordable" cities
- Hong Kong
- Sydney
- Vancouver
- San Jose
- Los Angeles
- Honolulu
- Melbourne
- San Francisco/Adelaide
- San Diego
- Toronto
The top 10 "affordable" cities:
- Pittsburgh
- Rochester
- St. Louis
- Cleveland
- Edmonton
- Buffalo
- Detroit
- Oklahoma City
- Cincinnati
- Louisville
Previously:
• Los Angeles Housing Department evicted
