The recent Housing Affordability Survey by think tank Demographia looked at 325 urban markets in the developed world to list how many multiples of average annual salary is required to buy the averaged priced home in each location.
If you think Britain's housing is unaffordable at 8 times average salary, then compare it to Hong Kong, the world's most expensive region, where you would need 12.6 times the average salary to buy an average home costing HK$250,000
The least expensive Michigan in the US where in Saginaw it is 1.3 times followed by Detroit at 1.4 times average annual salary.