If you want to understand home ownership affordability in a number of housing markets around the world check out the following report:
Demographia
International Housing Affordability Survey:
2007
Ratings for Major Urban Markets
Australia, Canada, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand
United Kingdom & United States
A few quick graphs to highlight some of the report’s findings.
Australia trends
US House Prices & Home Ownership
Housing Affordability – Best & Worst
The report shows how house prices really do reflect local economic conditions more than what might be going on nationally.
The public press has reported a housing boom and yet not all markets in a country are rising. The press has reported that house prices are crashing and yet we find markets still rising. Real estate in a country is a collection of local markets that respond to local conditions. Country wide averages mask a lot of differences.
3rd Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey (2006)
SMART GROWTH & URBAN CONSOLIDATION: INCOMPATIBLE WITH HOUSING AFFORDABILITY
159 Markets in Australia . Canada . Ireland . New Zealand . United Kingdom . United States
Housing affordability continues in crisis intensity in many markets. The most pervasive national crisis remains in Australia, where purchasing the median priced house now costs years more in gross household income than just 10 years ago. The crisis is nearly as serious in Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, where a government report identifies urban planning practices as the principal reason that housing costs there have inflated so out of control. There are regional pockets of severe unaffordability in the United States and Canada, especially in California, the Northeast and the Northwest. Still, strong affordability continues in many markets,
such as Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Quebec, Indianapolis Cincinnati and Kansas City. This edition includes a comparison of Perth,, Australia and Austin, Texas, similarly fast growing markets, but where the differences in housing affordability are like “night and day.”
International Release
North America Release
United Kingdom Release
Ireland Release
