The 16th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey: 2020 analyzed affordability in 7 Anglophone countries and Hong Kong. Among this sample, the housing markets with the least affordable real estate prices are Hong Kong, Vancouver, and Sydney. The top three housing markets with the most affordable real estate prices based on major housing markets are Rochester, New York, Cleveland, Ohio, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This survey was performed by Demographia, a global analysis firm.
Methodology The prices are based on data from the third quarter of 2019. The housing markets ranked are located in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom, and the United States. The report also includes special coverage on Russia.
The housing markets are ranked on middle income housing affordability, which uses the "median multiple". This was calculated by taking the median house price divided by the median gross pre-tax household income of the housing market. The median multiple is used widely for analyzing housing markets and is recommended by the World Bank and the United Nations. It has also been used by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.
Demographia uses housing affordability ratings to categorize each housing market's median multiple. +Demographia housing affordability ratings Housing affordability rating Median multiple Affordable 3.0 and under Moderately unaffordable 3.1 to 4.0 Seriously unaffordable 4.1 to 5.0 Severely unaffordable 5.1 and over
List The report is split into two rankings, one for major housing markets, and one for all housing markets. The list below shows the rankings from the most unaffordable housing market to the most affordable housing market for the major housing markets. The list contains 92 housing markets. Rank(3rd quarter 2019) Housing market Country/territory Median multiple1Hong Kong20.82Vancouver11.93Sydney11.04Melbourne9.55Los Angeles9.06Toronto8.66Auckland8.68San Jose, California8.59San Francisco8.410London (Greater London Authority)8.211Honolulu8.012San Diego7.313Bournemouth and Dorset6.913Adelaide6.915London Exurbs (east and southeast England)6.616Bristol and Bath6.517Brisbane6.318Plymouth and Devon6.018Perth6.020Swindon and Wiltshire5.821Northampton and Northamptonshire5.722Seattle5.523Riverside-San Bernardino5.423New York metropolitan area5.423Miami5.423Leicester and Leicestershire5.427Denver5.327Greater Boston5.329Sacramento, California5.229Fresno, California5.231Portland metropolitan area5.132Las Vegas5.032Birmingham and West Midlands5.034Montreal4.734Middlesbrough and Durham, England4.734Dublin4.737Singapore4.637Salt Lake City4.637Manchester and Greater Manchester4.637Hull and Humber4.641Nottingham and Nottinghamshire4.541Newcastle upon Tyne and Tyneside4.543Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire4.443Providence metropolitan area4.443Orlando4.446New Orleans4.346Derby and Derbyshire4.348Phoenix, Arizona4.248Leeds and West Yorkshire4.250Tucson, Arizona4.150Tampa Bay area4.150Ottawa-Gatineau4.1
See also Real estate Affordable housing
References