Find us a membership that has more perks than living in Alberta – we’ll wait! From the mountains to the world-class restaurants, we’ve kind of got it all. And the best part is that, according to a new study, it’s actually affordable to live here. In fact, both Calgary and Edmonton have just been ranked two of the world’s MOST affordable cities for housing.
In the 2022 Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey by Urban Reform (UR), Alberta’s two largest cities were among some of the top ten, with Edmonton which placed 4th, only trailing Pittsburgh, PA Oklahoma City, OK, and Rochester, NY, and Calgary who placed 10th – but how did they figure this out?
Using a measurement Urban Reform calls ‘median multiples’ – a price-to-income ratio that divides the median house price by the average household income into 92 different markets – they were able to determine the highest and lowest on the housing affordability list and Alberta’s biggest cities made the cut in a big way.
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Somehow, despite what UR describes as “an unprecedented deterioration in housing affordability” due to the pandemic, Alberta has managed to remain relatively affordable in relation to its median household income (MHI).
Of course, it is worth acknowledging that Alberta still has it a heck of a lot better than most – especially those who found themselves on the more expensive side of the coin.
With an MHI of 13.3, Vancouver (which was the 3rd most expensive city) costs thirteen times the average annual income – which is wild when you look at Edmonton’s score of 3.6 or Calgary’s 4.0.
Sadly, Van wasn’t the only Canadian spot to find itself in a bottom spot, either. Toronto was actually named the 10th most expensive, rounding out a rather unfortunate list – but really, who’s surprised?
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If you’d like to go over the entire report of the world’s most affordable cities, you can do so here – but we’d recommend bracing yourselves. It’s a long one!
In conclusion, we sure hope that things get better now that the worst of the pandemic is behind us.
Here’s to hoping next year, we’ll see lower MHIs across the board! Until then, happy reading.
