In this lab, I examined spatial and tabular census data of Vancouver and London to compare and contrast housing affordability and costs of these two cities.
Affordability is the cost of something relative to the amount that the purchaser can pay. Therefore, housing affordability is a ratio of household income to the cost of owner dwelling. This allows the purchaser to compare different areas that are most suitable for them, based on their price range. According to the United Nations: “If there is a single indicator that conveys the greatest amount of information on the overall performance of housing markets, it is the house price-to-income ratio”.
Housing affordability rating categories are: affordable (Median multiple: 3.0 & Under), moderately unaffordable (3.1 to 4.0), seriously unaffordable (4.1 to 5.0), and severely unaffordable (5.1 & Over). The Demographic International Housing Affordability Survey rates housing affordability using the “Median Multiple”, the median house price divided by the median household income. The Median Multiple can be trusted as it’s widely used for evaluating urban markets, and recommended by the World Bank and the United Nations and is used by the Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University.
Affordability is a good indicator of a city’s livability as the same standard is used for many cities around the world, allowing individuals to compare where the cheapest and most expensive properties based on their income are. Although affordability is a good indicator of a city’s livability, it’s important to acknowledge urban containment and it’s effect on sky-rocketing housing prices.
As a journalist putting together maps of housing costs in Vancouver, I would use natural breaks by grouping similar values and maximizing the difference between classes, so individuals with varying incomes can easily distinguish which areas are affordable to them. I would use natural breaks for prospective home buyers near UBC to show how different costs around Vancouver apply around campus, indicating if it’s a more affordable choice to live near campus or not. Privacy issues would arise from current home-owners in these areas as their housing costs would be available to the public. I would also be hesitant to use housing data from six years ago as it wouldn’t give an accurate depiction of current housing costs, and therefore provide false information to potential home buyers. I could use data from 2011 to show how housing costs have increased in each area over the past six years and indicate how costs will only continue to rise in the years to come.
Below is a map of housing costs in Vancouver and London using manual breaks. Manual breaks are being used to show the extreme contrast of affordability between the two cities. If we used natural breaks, different costs would have to be used to cater to each city with the same color scheme, making the two cities appear similar in costs. 