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SF Is the Third Least Affordable Major City in the World
- kostyk 13y agoI think they missed number 4 there? Or i missed it?
- Untit1ed 13y agoSydney, followed by Melbourne: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101349774 http://www.cnbc.com/id/101349774 Finally Australia finishes outside the top 3 in something and I can be happy about it! EDIT: Although that article says San Jose is the 5th even though the source disagrees. Confusing.
- usaar333 13y agoThe actual source (http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf) gives San Jose 5th. Melbourne takes 6th, with Auckland at 7th.
- anxrn 13y ago"The researchers used a metric called a median multiple, which compares the average home price to the median yearly income for an urban region" Wouldn't it be better to compare medians? (Median home price to median yearly income). It seems to me that you want to be robust to outliers in home price (Danielle Steele's mansion) in the same way that you're already robust to outliers in income (Mark Zuckerberg's paycheck)
- jdale27 13y agoFrom the original report (http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf), it appears that they do actually compare medians as you suggest: "The Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey uses the 'Median Multiple' (median house price divided by gross annual median household income) to assess housing affordability" (p. 7).
- Xcelerate 13y agoWhat's interesting to note in the survey is that Atlanta is the 5th most affordable city in the world. I wonder why that is?
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoIts probably related to supply and demand.
- api 13y agoIn the South you're allowed to build things.
- muzz 13y agoSomething to do with Georgia's extremely high poverty rate perhaps? http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2012/11/08/georgia-poverty-levels-among-worst-in.html http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2012/11/08/georgia-p...
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoTo be fair, it was weighted to median income. So if everyone was poor, that would drive the "affordable" price way down.
- usaar333 13y agoArticles need to link to the actual survey: http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf Yes, San Francisco is unaffordable, but 3rd least is an exaggeration: -This does not include the entire world, just cities in English-speaking (+Japan for some reason) developed countries with metro areas exceeding 1M people. -By most measures (http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/07/china-has-the-most-unaffordable-housing-in-the-world/277428/ http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/07/china-ha...), Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing have worse housing affordability than the English-speaking #1 of Hong Kong. -This is using the SF-Oakland MSA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco%E2%80%93Oakland%E2%80%93Fremont,_CA_Metropolitan_Statistical_Area http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco%E2%80%93Oakland%E...), which is far broader than San Francisco itself. -Comparing different MSAs is not exactly apples and apples. The New York MSA extends to Pike County, 80 miles from Manhattan. Under this definition, you could start including lower-cost Sacramento and Stockton with San Francisco.
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoI was just going to comment...Beijing is way more unaffordable than Hong Kong when median income is considered! Also, both Vancouver and Hong Kong (and to a much less extent, SF) are being invaded by mainland speculators, so the problems are all quite related. Rents are much more reasonable though, so the term "affordable" based on property speculation is quite weird (though HK is quite expensive in rent also).
- chaostheory 13y ago> both Vancouver and Hong Kong (and to a much less extent, SF) are being invaded by mainland speculators I always thought it was Chinese government officials looking to invest their embezzled funds or bribe money. Paying in cash looks sketchy to me.
- seanmcdirmid 13y agoThe banking system isn't that developed and people are used to paying in cash, even if you buy a house here your downpayment is likely to be 50% of the house's value. There is a lot of gray money flowing into foreign, some of it actually corrupt, but much of it just very gray. Some of it is real money, with no other way to invest RMB domestically (domestic real estate is a basket case, stock market...ha!), many just look abroad for investment opportunities and aren't too creative about it.
- api 13y agoBooming economy, affordable housing, development restrictions and NIMBYism: pick two.
- cweagans 13y agoIn other news, the sky is blue. News at six. Why is anyone surprised by this?
- stefan_kendall 13y agoDoes anyone think this is going to change? The people of San Francisco don't want new development, but bemoan the effects of supply and demand. I'm guessing that businesses will move farther and farther from SF before the rent comes down. High rent hits everyone, especially businesses.
- theandrewbailey 13y agoI'm surprised the Pittsburgh scored so well. I have a friend who is buying houses to flip to rentals, and he says that houses stay on the market for less than a week. He suspects it's because of people moving into the area due to the popularity of Marcellus shale fracking. I expect that both of those would push prices up. Every week, I see tons of nice subdivisions being built like there's no tomorrow.