| Vancouver has crept up the ladder of | | | | countries.Other places included among the "most |
| unaffordable cities around the world, with the | | | | unaffordable" markets were Los Angeles-Orange |
| median house now costing almost eight times the | | | | County, in the No. 1 spot, San Diego, Honolulu, San |
| median income here. An international study of | | | | Francisco and London, England. Victoria was tied |
| housing affordability done by Demographia places | | | | with Sacramento, Calif., Sarasota, Fla., and |
| Vancouver as 13th worst in the world for | | | | Melbourne, Australia. According to the report, it |
| affordability -- up from 15th last year -- since it | | | | takes 6.6 times the median income to buy the |
| takes 7.7 times the median income of $58,100 to | | | | median-priced house at $370,500 in those cities. |
| buy the median house at $448,800. This year's | | | | Regina was the city ranked as the most |
| study also included Victoria for the first time, | | | | affordable in the Demographia report. Overall, the |
| ranking it at 23rd among the 25 most | | | | unaffordable cities have just become slightly more |
| unaffordable housing markets in the world.The | | | | so.Cox and fellow author, New Zealand |
| report is the third annual study done by | | | | property-investment manager Hugh Pavletich, |
| Demographia, a company owned by American | | | | both blame the effect of smart-growth-style |
| public-policy professor Wendell Cox, which looks at | | | | policies and strong planning controls for |
| housing prices in six major industrialized | | | | globalunaffordability. |