Courtesy of Mish.
Congratulations to Hugh Pavletich and Wendell Cox (co-authors) of the 11th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey 2015, for another excellent job.
The survey shows …
“For the second year in a row, the United States had the most affordable housing among major metropolitan markets, with a moderately affordable Median Multiple of 3.6. Canada (4.3) Ireland (4.3), Japan (4.4), the United Kingdom (4.7) , and Singapore (5.0) had seriously unaffordable housing.
Three national markets were severely unaffordable, with Median Multiples of 5.1 or above. These included China (Hong Kong), with a Median Multiple of 17.0, New Zealand, at 8.2 and Australia at 6.4.”
Housing Affordability – Major Markets
click on chart for sharper image
The problem with the above chart is Hong Kong is so far off the scale, that everything else looks OK in comparison.
So, don’t be fooled by such distortions. My suggestion to the authors: A logarithmic chart may help.
The following table will put things in better perspective.
Housing Affordability Rating Categories
…