Australia has second-least affordable housing in the word

SURGING house prices in Sydney and Melbourne have helped keep Australia near the top of an annual list of the world's least affordable countries.

SURGING house prices in Sydney and Melbourne have helped keep Australia near the top of an annual list of the world's least affordable countries.

Australia is second only to Hong Kong for housing costs, with the Asian banking hub occupying a unique position given its high-income elite, miniscule size and proximity to mainland China.

Demographia's annual survey of property markets in eight countries (and one "special administrative region" within China - Hong Kong) shows the typical Australian house costs 5.6 times the median household income.

That figure masks stark differences across the country, with Sydney's recent double-digit annual property price growth sending it into a league of costliness previously not seen outside Hong Kong.

Demographia's report shows Sydney's house price-to-income ratio had the biggest annual increase in the 12-year history of the survey.

Read more at ABC News Online