Australia now has four cities among the world's 10 most expensive housing markets: Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Melbourne. Here’s how the cost of housing in some of our nation’s largest cities stacks up against the rest of the world.
What makes a city ‘unaffordable’?
There are many ways to measure how affordable a city is, from house prices and rent to the overall cost of living. The Demographia International Housing Affordability report uses something called a ‘median multiple’ – the median house price divided by the median pre-tax household income. The higher the number, the less affordable it is for the typical household to buy a home.
Housing markets are then rated as follows:
- Affordable: 3 and under
- Moderately unaffordable: 3.1 to 4
- Seriously unaffordable: 4.1 to 5
- Severely unaffordable: 5.1 to 8.9
- Impossibly unaffordable: 9 and over
The 2026 report crunched the numbers on 96 major housing markets in eight countries: Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
It found Sydney remained the world's second-least affordable housing market, behind only Hong Kong, while Adelaide, Brisbane, and Melbourne also featured in the top 10.
According to the report, "Sydney has been the first, second, or third least affordable housing market in 16 of the last 17 years," underlining how persistent Australia's housing affordability challenges have become.
The 10 most expensive cities in the world
These cities are home to the world’s least affordable housing markets:
1. Hong Kong, China
Median multiple: 14.1
2. Sydney, Australia
Median multiple: 14
3. San Jose, USA
Median multiple: 11.3
4. Adelaide, Australia
Median multiple: 11.2
5. Vancouver, Canada
Median multiple: 10.8
6. Los Angeles, USA
Median multiple: 10.7
7. Honolulu, United States
Median multiple: 10.4
8. Brisbane, Australia
Median multiple: 9.9
9. Melbourne, Australia
Median multiple: 9.5
10. San Francisco, USA
Median multiple: 9.4
Source: Demographia International Housing Affordability report 2026 edition.
What about the rest of Australia?
With four of Australia’s capital cities making the top 10 least affordable housing markets, you may be wondering how other Aussie cities fared. The news isn’t great. According to the report, all five of Australia’s major housing markets have been rated either ‘severely unaffordable’ or ‘impossibly unaffordable’ since the early 2000s. Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Melbourne all ranked in the global top 10 in 2026, while Perth had a median multiple of eight.
Other Australian cities, including Canberra, Hobart, and Darwin, are not included in the report.
Here’s how each listed Australian city’s median multiple changed between 2025 and 2026:
- Sydney: +0.2 (13.8 to 14)
- Adelaide: +0.3 (10.9 to 11.2)
- Melbourne: -0.2 (9.7 to 9.5)
- Brisbane: +0.6 (9.3 to 9.9)
- Perth: -0.3 (8.3 to 8)
What about the rest of the world?
Outside Australia, Canada's Vancouver remained among the world's least affordable housing markets, ranking fifth with a median multiple of 10.8. England’s Greater London (8.5) was also among the most expensive, and Auckland in New Zealand’s North Island (7.7) was also dubbed severely unaffordable. The Irish capital, Dublin (4.9), also remained in the 'severely unaffordable' category, whereas Singapore (4.3) was among the report's more affordable housing markets.
The world’s 10 most affordable cities
1. Cleveland, USA
Median multiple: 3.1
2. Pittsburgh, USA
Median multiple: 3.2
3. Oklahoma City, USA
Median multiple: 3.6
4. Rochester, USA
Median multiple: 3.6
5. St Louis, USA
Median multiple: 3.6
4. Sheffield, UK
Median multiple: 3.7
5. Louisville, USA
Median multiple: 3.8
6. Glasgow, UK
Median multiple: 3.9
7. Cincinnati, USA
Median multiple: 3.9
8. Dallas-Fort Worth, USA
Median multiple: 3.9
9. Detroit, USA
Median multiple: 3.9
10. Tulsa, USA
Median multiple: 3.9
Source: Demographia International Housing Affordability report 2026 edition.
