Affordable Housing

A survey was released recently which lists Melbourne and Syndney among the top ten cities in the world when it comes to unaffordable housing [http://www.demographia.com/dhi-rank200502.htm]. Washington D.C. comes in way down the line, behind every other major Australian city (Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart) and even Auckland, New Zealand. Having lived in the DC area, I'm somewhat (and by somewhat I mean highly) dubious of this. Cities were ranked based upon the ratio of median home price to median household income. However, it is unclear whether dollar values were adjusted for market exchange rates (most likely) or purchasing power parity (more relevant). Furthermore, there's always the issue of whether median or average prices make a better indicator (I'm assuming the distribution of housing prices is highly skewed). Both Melbourne and Sydney have experienced rapid growth in recent years in home prices, but I don't think they've approached the 20%+/year that DC has witnessed.