In this part of the lab, we created maps of the affordability in both Vancouver and Ottawa. We used manual breaks as our classification method, setting the same break values in both maps. This allowed us to compare the housing affordability of both two cities to each other!
Click here to see my Housing Affordability maps!
Affordability is considers median housing cost normalized by income. So areas that have high housing cost and high incomes are considered more affordable than areas with high housing costs and low incomes. This is a better indicator of housing affordability than housing costs alone, because it is a more appropriate indicator of liveability. High housing costs become a more important issue when those living there do not have high enough incomes to afford it. For instance, housing costs in New York City are extremely high but its residents typically have high incomes. In contrast, Vancouver housing costs are high but residents have lower incomes. Vancouver is less affordable despite having cheaper housing costs than New York City.
The housing affordability rating categories used in my maps are:
- no data
- affordable (3.0 and Under)
- moderately unaffordable (3.1 – 4.0)
- seriously unaffordable (4.1 – 5.0)
- severely unaffordable (5.1 and Over)
These categories were determined by the 12th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey: 2016 (www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf). For the purposes of my map, I believe these categories are to be trusted.
Affordability is a good indicator of a city’s ‘liveability’, but should not be the sole indicator used. There are many other factors that influence ‘liveability’, including business conditions, environmental conditions, crime, transport networks etc.
