San Diego Among World's Most 'Impossibly Unaffordable' Places: Report

SAN DIEGO, CA — San Diegans already know it's expensive to live in San Diego, but America's Finest City is now so expensive it is 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.

San Diego made the top 10 list of the world's most "impossibly unaffordable" cities. Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose also made the list.

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.