How Affordable is Housing in Your City?
2022 Edition of Demographia International Housing Affordability
CANADA, March 7, 2022 – The Frontier Centre for Public Policy and the Urban Reform Institute has just released the 2022 Edition of Demographia International Housing Affordability. The survey is prepared by Wendell Cox of Demographia (USA). The report shows an unprecedented deterioration in housing affordability during the pandemic. The number of severely unaffordable markets rose 60% in 2021 compared to 2019, the last pre-pandemic year.
Four of the six markets in Canada are rated severely unaffordable. In Canada, the affordability difference among the six major markets was 1.5 median multiple points in 1971, rising to 2.5 in the mid-2000s during the pandemic has risen to 9.3, more than six times that of 1971.
Demographia International Housing Affordability rates middle-income housing affordability in 92 major housing markets in eight nations :Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States). This edition covers the third quarter (September quarter) of 2021.
Cox uses the international standard—Median Multiple—to rate middle-income housing affordability. The median multiple is a price-to-income ratio, which is the median house price divided by the gross median household income (pre-tax). Middle-income housing affordability is rated in four categories, ranging from the most affordable (“affordable”) to the least affordable (severely affordable):
To read this intriguing survey and to find out how your city ranks for Housing Affordability, visit the Frontier Centre for Public Policy website: www.fcpp.org or read the report here.
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is an independent, non-profit organization that undertakes research and education in support of economic growth and social outcomes that will enhance the quality of life in our communities. Through a variety of publications and public forums, Frontier provides new insights into solving important issues facing our cities, towns and provinces. These include improving the performance of public expenditures in important areas such as local government, education, health and social policy. The authors of this survey have worked independently and the opinions expressed are therefore their own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the board of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
