Adelaide now has 14th least affordable housing market in the world

Adelaide now has the 14th least affordable housing market in the world – only slightly better than London and worse than Brisbane and Perth.

Adelaide’s housing market is less affordable than New York and only slightly better than Greater London’s, a sobering new report has found.

In International think tank Demographia’s latest affordability index, Adelaide is now worse than Brisbane and Perth and 14th worst of 94 major markets across eight nations.

Most are in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, with Hong Kong, Singapore, Dublin and Auckland also included.

The index ranks affordability for middle-income earners by a figure labelled the “median multiple” – the median house price divided by the gross median household income.

Adelaide’s multiple is 8.2, far in excess of the 5.1 mark at which point a market is considered “extremely unaffordable”.

Adelaide’s housing market is less affordable than New York – and only slightly better than Greater Londond’s. Housing stock in Noarlunga Downs, 2021. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

Demographia urban policy analyst Wendell Cox said a median-priced house should be affordable to a large proportion of middle-income households.

“When a city’s median house price can be afforded by only the top 20 per cent of wage earners, which is what you’re seeing in Adelaide, that’s essentially signalling the end of your middle class and the ‘great Australian dream’,” he said.

“The root of the problem lies in regulations and artificial growth boundaries that have limited organic growth leading to a shortage of preferred housing and outrageous prices.”

Hong Kong has by far the worst multiplier of 18.8, followed by Sydney on 13.3 in second place.

Melbourne comes in ninth worst at 9.9, Brisbane is 17th on 7.4 and Perth 45th on 5.4.

Adelaide is less affordable than every major city in the UK except for Greater London.

“The housing crisis has turned into a cost-of-living crisis and it’s one of the most pressing issues for Adelaide and the rest of your capital cities,” US-based Mr Cox said.

“All five of Australia’s major housing markets have been severely unaffordable since the early 2000s.

“Young people can no longer afford the houses they grew up in.”

Adelaide house prices also fare poorly on another measure in the report, rising more steeply against inflation since 2020 than Australia’s other mainland capital markets.

Boston, along with trendy northwest US cities Seattle and Portland, are among those more affordable than Adelaide, along with the likes of Dublin and Edinburgh.