Triple Crown

In the news of late, there is a good deal of discussion about home affordability in cities around the world. A major contributor to this conversation is Demographia International. They just published their 13 th annual Housing Affordability Survey in which they use a simple method to determine affordability. They take the median price of a home in a city and divide it by the median income of a family in the city. The resulting number is the “Median Multiple”, or simply, the number of years of income it would take to pay a mortgage for the home. It was no surprise Hong Kong’s homes are the least affordable in the world, and for good reason: A densely populated island with over seven million inhabitants packed into 1,106 square kilometers, it’s a major hub of world commerce, and mainland developers are driving up costs with the government’s blessing. Demographia International’s recent survey put the median home price at 18.1 times the gross annual median income. In other words,

“Now the tempo of the market is trending slowly – very slowly – towards more balanced conditions, says Victoria Real Estate Board President Ara Balabanian. “Recently we’ve seen overall price increases level out, which can indicate slightly less demand, and inventory is building.” There were 1,976 active listings and 214 condominiums for sale on the Victoria Real Estate Board Multiple Listing Service® at the end of September 2017. The Multiple Listing Service® Home Price Index benchmark value for a condominium in the Victoria Core for September 2017 $488,348. The benchmark value for the same condominium in September 2016 was $380,976