Why Vancouver is the least affordable place to own a home in North America

Although homes in San Francisco and Manhattan are more expensive than those in Vancouver, with median selling prices of $1,275,000 and $1,207,500, respectively, a lower median income makes Vancouver’s affordability index higher than that of the two U.S. cities. Its median multiple currently stands at 17.3—anything higher than 5.1 is considered severely unaffordable, according to international real estate search portal Point2 Homes, which estimates it would take 10 years longer to pay off a house in Vancouver than it would in Toronto and 14 years longer than it would in Winnipeg.