USA offers 'most affordable' housing market worldwide

Thursday 26th January 2012

The property market in the USA is the most affordable among comparable countries, an international property affordability survey shows.

The Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey looks at affordability, measured as average home price divided by gross annual median household income, across 325 metropolitan markets worldwide.

The survey, which focuses on housing affordability within metropolitan markets, ranks a median multiple of 3 or under as ‘affordable’, while those markets with a home price to income multiple of 5.1 and above is considered extremely unaffordable.

In 2011, the USA property market was considered most affordable, with a median multiple of 3, followed by Ireland with a multiple of 3.3, where home prices have collapsed in recent years because of the financial crisis.

In stark contrast, Hong Kong has a severely unaffordable housing market, with the median multiple of 12.6, followed by Australia at 5.6, New Zealand at 5.2 and the UK at 5.1.

Out of a total of 211 metropolitan markets surveyed in the U.S., 117 were most affordable, 64 were moderately affordable, 16 seriously unaffordable and 14 severely unaffordable.