For years there have been concerns about the skyrocketing prices of housing in Canada, especially in the major cities, and most especially in Toronto and Vancouver
A new annual study of world cities and housing markets has now placed Vancouver in third place among the most unaffordable cities in the world in which to try to buy a house.
Still, that’s a slight improvement from the previous report when it was in second spot.
The Demographia rating compares the average (median) house price to the average income to create what it calls the “median multiple”.
A rating of 3.0 and below is considered affordable.
The survey has been conducted for 13 years and comparison shows that in 2004 the city was already “unaffordable” with a rating of 5.4 but this latest report puts it well into the severely unaffordable category with a rating of 11.8.
Australia as a whole lists it five major housing markets as unfordable, with the city of Sydney rated at 12.2 but Hong Kong is by far the world’s least affordable housing market with a rating with an 18.1 rating.
As for Canada seven of Canada’s major cities are listed as severely unaffordable with ratings of 5.1 and over.
The report says “Among major markets, Canada has a seriously unaffordable Median Multiple of 4.7. There are no affordable major markets, one major markets is rated as moderately unaffordable, three are rated seriously unaffordable and two are rated severely unaffordable. The Median multiple for all housing markets in Canada is 3.9. Canada’s overall housing affordability trails only that of Ireland and the United States. Among the 40 markets in Canada, 10 are affordable,13 are moderately unaffordable, 10 are seriously unaffordable and seven are severely unaffordable.
Toronto increased from the previous report’s 6.7 to this year’s 7.7, while Montreal is at 4.8.
The study examines 406 metropolitain housing markets in nine countries: Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Additional information- sources
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.