​Vancouver second least-affordable housing market

Vancouver comes second only to Hong Kong as the least affordable housing market in the world, based on a survey by Demographia.

The survey measures affordability by comparing gross household income with housing costs and was conducted in 350 cities in nine Western countries:  Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland,  Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK and the U.S.

Average housing prices that are three times the cost of the  gross income of the concerned household are still considered affordable.  However, Hong Kong topped the charts as the market with the least affordable housing -- the average home costing 15  times the household median income.

Meanwhile, Vancouver ‘s cost 10 times higher, making it the second least affordable housing in the world.

The article filed by CBC News quotes headhunter Craig Hemer’s advice on how to cushion Vancouver settlers and/or immigrants from the high cost and thus promote in-migration.  

“Will [the cities] have to adjust or change, provide greater incentives, provide housing allowances that off set some of these different differentials?" asks Henner. "Those are strategies that are used periodically now, that might increase.”

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