For the eighth year in a row, the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey shows Hong Kong, China to be the least affordable housing market (metropolitan area) in nine nations. Hong Kong, China's Median Multiple is 19.4, up from 18.1 last year.

The Median Multiple is price to income ratio used in the Survey, calculated by dividing the median house price by the median household income. The Demographia middle-income housing affordability ratings, as well as the summarized results, are shown in Figure 1. The Survey includes 293 markets in nine nations.

Hong Kong, China is among 17 very large markets, with more than 5,000,000 population (Figure 2), included in the Survey. Eight of the very large markets have severely unaffordable housing, with Median Multiples of 5.1 or more. In addition to Hong Kong, China, the very large severely unaffordable markets are Sydney (12.9), Los Angeles (9.4), London (8.5), Toronto (7.9), the London Exurbs (6.9), Miami (6.5) and New York (5.7), a metropolitan area that is divided between New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The best housing affordability among the very large markets is in Atlanta (3.2), Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto and Philadelphia (3.5), Houston (3.7) as well as Chicago and Dallas Fort Worth (3.8).

(Source:newgeography.com)