Housing is ‘impossibly unaffordable’ in these 5 US cities

Researchers at Chapman University and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy ranked the affordability of housing markets based on each metro's price-to-income ratio, which is the median house price divided by the median household income3. The study analyzed 94 major cities in eight countries and considered factors such as land use policies that artificially restrict housing supply and drive up land prices. The report found that the gap between housing costs and income has widened since the pandemic, triggering a cost-of-living crisis for many American families.

Restrictive housing policies, as discussed by Joel Kotkin in the report, have a significant impact on housing affordability. These policies, often packaged as progressive, can be more accurately characterized as regressive in their social impact. They contribute to the escalation of land costs, which in turn drives up housing prices. The report identifies urban containment policies aimed at limiting sprawl and increasing density as a key factor in rising land prices. Such policies have resulted in land prices being eight to 20 times higher within urban containment boundaries compared to outside these areas. This has particularly affected California, where high housing costs are seen as an obstacle to upward mobility and a threat to the middle class5.