HOUSING AFFORDABILITY AS AN INDICATOR OF AFFORDABILITY COMPARED TO SOLELY HOUSING COSTS
Affordability is measuring housing costs in relation to household incomes. Because any product or service being expensive or inexpensive is a very subjective and relative concept, it is important, in this case, to analyse housing costs in a context. Housing cost figures alone do not make sense as one cannot determine whether those houses are affordable without relating the figures to how much money potential buyers are earning/or have as enough disposable income. For these reasons, affordability is a more reliable and relatively more accurate measure than just housing costs.
The housing affordability rating categories used are:
- Affordable
- Moderately Unaffordable
- Seriously Unaffordable
- Severely Unaffordable
it is the analyst that decides what type of classification and/or categorization is being used to represent on the map depending on the objective for which the map is produced (what is one trying to convey through the map and to whim is it being conveyed?). When using categorization such as manual breaks, we are ensuring uniformity over the multiple maps being used – maintaining a common basis for comparison. Other methods of categorization such as natural breaks, even though quite accurate and error free, might produce different breaks in different maps due to the difference in data sets of the separate maps. This does not allow for uniformity and common basis for comparison between the maps being produced.
AFFORDABILITY AS AN INDICATOR OF LIVABILITY:
Livability has many components and facets to it other than just affordability of housing, however, higher housing affordability indicates a better standard of living in financial terms and that the population is more able to spare larger disposable incomes. However, housing affordability does not take into account other aspects of human wellbeing that makes a city livable such as amount and structure of green spaces, amount of pollution, local public transport and connectivity, employment opportunities and other benefits.
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