CA Dominates World's Most 'Impossibly Unaffordable' Places For Housing

CALIFORNIA — Californians know that it's expensive to live in California. But a few California cities are now so expensive they are considered "impossibly unaffordable," according to a new report.

The annual Demographia International Housing Affordability report assessed housing affordability in 94 major markets across eight countries.

Four of the world's most "impossibly unaffordable" cities are right here in the Golden State. San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego all made the top 10.

Honolulu also made the list, which means five of the top 10 most unaffordable places are in the United States, according to the report, which has looked at housing costs for two decades.

Hong Kong was named the most unaffordable place in the world.

The report was compiled by researchers from the Center for Demographics and Policy at Chapman University in California and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, an independent public policy think tank in Canada.

The report determined housing affordability by using a median price-to-income ratio, also known as the "median multiple." The study categorized markets based on their median multiple into five groups: "Affordable" (3.0 and under), "Moderately Unaffordable" (3.1 to 4.0), "Seriously Unaffordable" (4.1 to 5.0), "Severely Unaffordable" (5.1 to 8.9), and "Impossibly Unaffordable" (9.0 and over).

"The term 'impossible' was selected to convey the extreme difficulty faced by middle-income households in affording housing at a median multiple of 9.0," the report stated. "This level of unaffordability did not exist just over three decades ago. Furthermore, securing financing for a house at this median multiple is largely impossible for middle-income household."

These are the top 10 "impossibly unaffordable" cities:

1. Hong Kong (16.7)
2. Sydney (13.3)
3. Vancouver (12.3)
4. San Jose (11.9)
5. Los Angeles (10.9)
6. Honolulu (10.5)
7. Melbourne (9.8)
8. San Francisco / Adelaide (9.7)
9. San Diego (9.5)
10. Toronto (9.3)

The report also identified the most affordable markets in the world. Pittsburgh was named the most affordable place in the U.S., followed by Rochester and St. Louis.

Read the full report here.