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.
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The most affordable housing market was in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where the median home price was 3.2 times greater than the median income in the area. Still, the study considered Pittsburg’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.
The 10 most affordable housing markets and their house price-to-income ratios
Pittsburgh 3.2 Cleveland 3.3 St. Louis 3.5 Rochester, New York 3.6 Edmonton, Canada 3.7 (tie)Middlesbrough and Durham, England 3.7 (tie)Oklahoma City 3.7 (tie)Omaha, Nebraska 3.7 (tie)Sheffield, England 3.8 Cincinnati 3.9 (tie)Detroit 3.9 (tie)
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.
However, as of May 2025, households earning $75,000 a year could only afford 21.2% of homes. On the flipside, home buyers earning $250,000 or more could afford at least 80% of home listings.
“For many first-time home buyers, navigating the current housing market still feels like window shopping,” said Nadia Evangelou, director of real estate research at the National Association of Realtors. “Listing prices don’t match first-time home buyers’ budgets.”
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