22 January 2007

We're Number 23!

And that's not a good thing. Victoria has come up as tied for 23rd Least Affordable Housing market -- out of 159 markets in Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK, Ireland and Canada -- in the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey (PDF). We're better off than Vancouver, which clocked in at 13th... but considering the population difference, and 23 is pretty impressive. Basically it comes down to this: in Victoria it takes 6.6 times the median income to afford a house; the Survey considers 3 times the median income or lower to be an affordable market.

Reeeeeally makes me wanna pack up and move to Winnipeg (which, coincidentally, shows up at number 9 on the affordable list at 2.5 times the median income). The weather there is not so bad as you'd expect, temperature-wise, but as hubby points out, they don't advertise the mosquito count.

Sigh.

3 comments:

Shawn DeWolfe said...

I plan on doing a longer post on my blog about this later, but the important deal: median income vs. median housing prices. Why doesn't Mountain View, CA show up in this most expensive list?
It's because Victoria is a tourist-trap. The wealthy parachute in, drive up the housing prices and depart. The workers peddle plastic Mounties for minimum wage. If Victoria dropped its obsession with being a tourism haven, we could embrace an industry that generates more employees above the poverty line. More wealth could trigger a gold-rush effect; or it could drop us out of the 23 Ski-doo.

Amy said...

OMG, THANK YOU for this link! Greg and I have been *thinking* of buying a house however our jaws have dropped at the prices compared to what we could afford in Austin. This sums up how I feel about the market: "In NZ, all three markets have Median Multiples in excess of 5.0 and are rated "severely unaffordable." It's crazy expensive for a crappy quality house here. We don't have insulation or double glazed windows. How can you ask a fortune for that? I'm thankful that the mosquitos don't like the wind though. =)

Unknown said...

Mike: yes, that's probably true. Look at all the California cities that made the list.

Amy: I thought of you two when I read the NZ data, too. And, you're welcome.