5th International Housing Affordability Survey Released

5th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey
265 Markets in 6 Nations

Dr. Shlomo Angel, of Princeton University and New York University, one of the world's leading experts in urban planning writes in the preface to this 5th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey that ...the current efforts to contain the pace of the outward expansion of cities for one reason or another are, at the very least, open to serious question. Referring to land use regulation, he continues: The more stringent the restrictions, the less is the housing market able to respond to increased demand, and the more likely house prices are to increase. And when residential land is very difficult to come by, housing becomes unaffordable., This report describes the economic connection between that "smart growth"/"urban consoldiation" policies (prescriptive land use policies) and the unprecedented house price escalation that has occured in recent years in some markets. Moreover, the consequences have expanded well beyond housing. Without prescriptive land use regulation, the housing bubble in the United States would have been less severe; without a severe housing bubble, the US mortgage meltdown would not have occurred and without the US mortgage meltdown, the international financial crisis might not have occurred. It will be important to reform land use policies to prevent similar damage from occuring in the future

Report:
http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf

INITIAL MONDAY PRESS COVERAGE FROM “DOWN UNDER” NEWSPAPERS

SYDNEY
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/housing-severely-unaffordable/2009/01/25/1232818248039.html
PERTH
http://www.watoday.com.au/national/housing-prices-its-all-relative-20090125-7pgu.html
MELBOURNE
http://www.theage.com.au/national/housing-prices-its-all-relative-20090125-7pgu.html
AUCKLAND
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10553540



Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey