02/03/2010

US property offers best value - new survey

Property in US cities is the most affordable in the English-speaking world, according to new research.

The 2010 Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey found Vancouver and Sydney to be the most unaffordable markets in relation to annual household income. No markets in the UK, Ireland, Australia or New Zealand were deemed affordable while Canada as a whole was labelled as moderately unaffordable.

“The recent house price declines have restored U.S. housing affordability to the historic norm (last achieved in the early 2000s), as the price bubble burst in many plan-driven markets,” said the report.

The most affordable US markets were in areas of the northeastern ‘Rust Belt’ led by Detroit, where prices have collapsed and unemployment has been particularly high due to the collapse of car manufacturing.

However, other affordable cities, such as Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, had strong economies but had not experienced a price bubble prior to the economic crisis. The affordable markets also tended to have less restrictive land use policies.

Source: OPP (28/01/2010)

P4P Comment

We focus on Detroit and Atlanta (plus Florida), so covering two of the areas in this article. And our properties offer  even better value for money as they are direct from Banks and sold refurbished.