According to the Eighth Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, Canada ranked third, behind the United States and Ireland.
However, Vancouver is the world’s second-least affordable major city to buy a house, according to the survey. Toronto’s housing market is also unaffordable, but better than Vancouver.
The poll covered 325 metropolitan markets around the world and measured them using something called the “median multiple,” which is the median house price divided by gross annual median household income.
The markets surveyed were Australia, Canada, China (Hong Kong), Ireland, United Kingdom and the United States. You can see the Canadian housing affordability rankings in 325 international markets:
(Ranking, city, median multiple, median house price, median household income)
324. Vancouver; 10.6; $678,500; $63,800
313. Abbotsford; 7.0; $443,700; $63,000
309. Victoria; 6.8; $417,300; $61,600
303. Kelowna; 6.6; $385,100; $58,100
276. Toronto; 5.5; $406,400; $73,600
255. Montreal; 5.1; $281,700; $54,700
221. Hamilton; 4.2; $292,700; $69,000
208. Sherbrooke; 4.0; $192,200; $48,200
208. Saskatoon; 4.0; $274,700; $68,300
206. Calgary; 3.9; $353,700; $91,400
There were no affordable markets in Australia, New Zealand or the United Kingdom.
The report said the world’s least affordable markets all had something in common – “each of the least affordable markets were characterized by more restrictive land-use regulations, which materially increases the price of land and makes housing less affordable.”
The most affordable major market in the world was Detroit, with a multiple of 1.4 ($66,500/$48,700).
Windsor was the most affordable Canadian city of any size, with a ratio of 2.2 ($149,900/ $67,900).
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