Vancouver has been once again ranked one of the least affordable housing markets in the world, according to an annual survey from Demographia.
It was the only Canadian city to crack the top 10 list, coming in third behind Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia out of 406 markets in the world.
This is the second year in a row Vancouver ranked third after hitting second place in 2015. The city has been ranked with the worst housing affordability in Canada in all previous Demographia surveys since 2004.
Demographia reported Vancouver’s year-over-year price growth was equal to a year of household income in the city. It also mentioned the city experienced a “modest” net domestic out-migration in 2016, meaning more people left the city than moved in.
The annual survey has been publishing data on world housing markets relative to household income since 2004, and noted Vancouver has experienced “the greatest housing market deterioration” among all major markets in the world, with its Median Multiple figure – a measure of housing affordability – more than doubling from 5.4 to 11.8 in that time.
In the fall of 2016, the UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index ranked Vancouver with the world’s worst real estate bubble risk thanks to “stimulated Asian demand” and “loose credit conditions.”
Demographia says Toronto is not far behind Vancouver for growth in housing unaffordability, with the second-fastest growing unaffordability rate, going from 3.9 in 2004 to 7.7 in 2016.
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On the other side of the coin, cities on the east coast of the United States hit the mark for most affordable housing relative to household income.
Racine, Wisconsin is ranked the most affordable with a median home price of $104,000 and a median household income of $58,400. Behind it come Bay City, Michigan; Decatur, Illinois; Elmira, New York; and East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.
In Canada, Moncton, New Brunswick was the most affordable housing market with a median price of $134,900, followed by Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. The only other B.C. cities on the list, Kelowna, Fraser Valley and Victoria were all named unaffordable.
Victoria ranked less affordable than Toronto, with a Median Multiple of 8.1 and a median price of $542,400.
While Vancouver continues to make news for unaffordability, housing prices have been going down slightly since the foreign buyer’s tax was implemented in August. The benchmark price of a detached home in Greater Vancouver has dropped five per cent in the last six months to $1.4 million.
And the top 20 least affordable cities in Canada in 2017:
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