10 Most Expensive Cities to Live in Around the World in 2017

As time goes by, prices are getting higher and higher. For some cities, this has affected how expensive it is just to exist there. However, a lot of these places are wealth oriented, which is why standards are also high. There are also some places that have been hit hard by unstable prices in real estate and commodities.

LONDON — The most expensive cities to live in around the world in 2017 have been revealed in the 13th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey: 2017.

The study analysed 406 metropolitan housing markets in nine countries — Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK, and the UK — in the third quarter of 2016.

Using the “mean multiple” approach — the median house price divided by the median household income — the data shows that the most “severely unaffordable major housing markets” are in Australia, New Zealand, China, Canada, the UK, and the US.

Oliver Hartwich, the executive director of the think tank behind the research, The New Zealand Initiative, said: “The number of severely unaffordable major housing markets rose from 26 to 29. We need to tackle housing affordability urgently because the effects of unaffordable housing on society are becoming more visible by the day … We should not accept extreme price levels in our housing markets. High house prices are not a sign of city’s success but a sign of failure to deliver the housing that its citizens need.”

Scroll down to see the 10 most expensive cities to live in around the world in 2017.

10. Bournemouth & Dorset, UK

The area of Bournemouth & Dorset was called a “severely unaffordable” market in previous surveys, and in 2016 had a median multiple — or median house price divided by median household income — of 8.9. It even beat out the UK’s largest market, London, which also had a ‘severely unaffordable’ median multiple of 8.5 and has the world’s second worst housing bubble risk according to The UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index.

9. San Francisco

The California city had a median multiple of 9.2.

8. Los Angeles

In LA, house prices rose the equivalent of 14 months’ worth of household income in only 12 months, giving it a median multiple of 9.3.

7. Honolulu

The Hawaiian capital was reclassified as a “major market” this year with a median multiple of 9.4 after proving to be “severely unaffordable” in all 13 previous editions of the survey.

6. Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne had a median multiple of 9.5.

5. San Jose, US

Another California city, San Jose had a median multiple of 9.6.

4. Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland had a median multiple of 10.

3. Vancouver, British Columbia

House prices in Vancouver rose the equivalent of a full year’s household income in only a year; it had a median multiple of 11.8.

2. Sydney

Sydney had a median multiple of 12.2.

1. Hong Kong, China

Hong Kong has the least affordable housing market for the seventh year in a row. Its median multiple this time was 18.1, down from 19, the worst ranking on record, last year.