Posted on 08/24/2025 9:26:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
All 95 major housing markets in the world have at least one thing in common: they’re unaffordable.
That’s according to a May study by the Chapman University Center for Demographics and Policy that compared the median home price to median incomes of 95 housing markets in the third quarter of 2024.
Markets were considered “affordable” if their median home price was no more than three times the area’s median annual income. Of the markets analyzed, 12 were classified as “impossibly unaffordable,” and not a single one was deemed “affordable,” the study found.
The most affordable housing market was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the median home price was 3.2 times greater than the median income in the area. Still, the study considered Pittsburgh’s home prices “moderately unaffordable.”
Internationally, Edmonton in Canada, and in England, Sheffield and the areas of Middlesbrough and Durham also made the top 10.
In June, the median price for an existing home in the U.S. reached a record high of $435,300, according to the National Association of Realtors. That's up 2% from the same time last year and the 24th consecutive month of year-over-year price gains.
If home listings reflected what buyers across income levels could afford, U.S. households earning $75,000 annually should have access to 48.1% of available homes, according to an analysis by the National Association of Realtors and Realtor.com.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
I see that Pittsburgh is #1. That makes sense if you pick one of the nicer Pittsburgh neighborhoods.
Otherwise, stay out of Pittsburgh.
Because the old saying applies. Better to pick the worst house in the best neighborhood than the best house in the worst neighborhood.
Texas, with a median income to median home price ratio of 4.0 is just barely higher then the lowest cost ten cities.
California on the other hand has a median income to median house price ratio of 8.0 to 9.0 - twice as expensive as Texas. Florida is not as low priced as Texas, but with a ratio of about 5.0 is lower cost than California.
The $1 houses in Detroit probably require $100,000 in repairs and thousands more in security systems.
Affordable for a reason. They are all places no one wants to live in.
know nothing about the foreign places, but you could not pay me to live in one of those US cities.
Between weather and local wildlife......
Plus a million or two for moats, drawbridge, and watch towers, and a small army to protect the place
Oklahoma City wouldn’t be nearly as bad as the others as far as the viciousness of “local wildlife” is concerned, and it’s a very conservative area. However, it’s Oklahoma City, so not super exciting, and there’s the ever-present possibility that your home could be wiped off the map by an F5 tornado.
I had no problem in selling my home in Pittsburgh area, sold by auction within very short time. I also know of people who buy a home in western Pennsylvania areas who work remotely for firms or government agencies in other cities, people who move here because their relatives tell them they’re crazy not to.
People in Pittsburgh area have told me for years that houses in Pittsburgh area, tri- state area, are being bought up by foreign nationals. BTW, ignore the anti-Pittsburgh comments on this thread.
You go live there.
1) most countries place severe restrictions on non resident aliens being allowed to buy residential real estate. The US is one of the only countries that does not.
2) The US has not restricted the ability of banks and large holding companies like Blackrock, Vanguard, etc to buy residential real estate which they have been doing - to the point that corporations own 25% of all residential real estate in the US. This too has driven up prices.
Texas property taxes are out of control. What good is affording a house when you drown in property taxes?
“Middlesbrough and County Durham are areas receiving significant numbers of asylum seekers and refugees, particularly from London and other parts of the UK, due to government dispersal policies and the availability of housing. Middlesbrough has been described as having a particularly high influx of migrants per capita compared to other UK towns.”
“ They are all places no one wants to live in.”
Bingo. I was going to write that.
When it comes to out of control property taxes Massachusetts says to Texas “hold my beer”. And for that matter Westchester and Nassau Counties...both NYC suburbs...are far worse than those in Massachusetts.
I’m sure there are worse but those areas mentioned at least pay their employees extremely well. Very wealthy areas. Texas on the other hand has high property taxes and lower wages. Double whammy!
Housing affordability is a major issue, but I’ve seen this 3 times income cited since the 1980s, and that’s where interest rates are a huge matter. The gap between interest rates and inflation rates make loans unaffordable. 2004-2006 and 2011-2023 represent periods wbere very low interest rates meant people could afford more and more housing. Of course, 2004-2006 created a price bubble with that affordability.
Interesting. But there are less costly housing markets, although not in large cities. Take a drive 50+ miles away from any of those major city areas and housing becomes a lot less expensive. And taxes are much lower as well. The downside is that the jobs are generally in the cities, although farming is a noble profession as well.
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