Australian city world's second most unaffordable, with four others among top 20
Australian cities have dominated a report into the least affordable cities in the world, with one coming in second.
The Demographia International Housing Affordability Report has extensively assessed housing data from 94 major markets across Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom and the United States.
Swipe through to see where Australian cities rank in terms of housing unaffordability in the world.
20. Perth, Australia
Perth has been ranked as the 20th least affordable city to live in, according to the report.
"All five of Australia's major housing markets have been severely unaffordable since the early 2000s or before," the report said.
Perth was ranked as "severely unaffordable".
19. Boston, US
The East Coast US city of Boston was also ranked as severely unaffordable.
The most affordable US markets were Pittsburgh, Rochester, St. Louis and Cleveland.
15. Brisbane, Australia
Australia is featured again, with Brisbane also ranked as "severely unaffordable".
The report found Brisbane's median income slowly rose but house prices it wasn't a match for housing growth.
13. Miami, US
Miami is ranked as the 13th least affordable.
The report found housing was generally the most expensive item in the household budget.
"In the United States, where there is the greatest gap between the most expensive and least expensive housing markets, more than 85 per cent of the cost of living difference between the most expensive markets is due to higher housing costs," the report found.
12. Auckland, New Zealand
New Zealand's new government has adopted a "Going for Housing Growth" policy based upon the understanding of housing affordability as a land cost problem.
It will seek to ensure there is abundant developable land within and around cities, which they hope will prevent the artificial scarcity that drives up prices.
"This is in contrast to housing affordability policies that are limited to densification strategies," the report said.
11. Toronto, Canada
Toronto is the second least affordable market in Canada.
The report said there had been a considerable loss of housing affordability in Canada since the mid-2000s.
9. Adelaide, Australia
"Even far less renowned Adelaide had an impossibly unaffordable median," the report said.
The range between the most affordable and least affordable markets is growing across Australia.
7. Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne is now ranked as impossibly unaffordable.
"The middle-class is under siege principally due to the escalation of land costs.
"As land has been rationed in an effort to curb urban sprawl, the excess of demand over supply has driven prices up.
"The net effect is that land values and house prices have become skewed against the middle-class, whose existence depends upon the very competitive land market destroyed by the planning orthodoxy."
3. Vancouver, Canada
Vancouver has been the first, second or third least affordable major market for each of the last 16 years.
"Troublingly, impossibly unaffordable housing in the Vancouver market has also has spread to smaller BC markets in British Columbia."
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