From an article on George Osborne’s “Help to Buy” scheme...

[randomness]

...this chart, with data from Torsten Slok at Deutsche Bank, comparing house price to income ratios in selected American, Australian, British, Canadian, Irish, and New Zealand cities.


(click to enlarge)
From http://www.bondvigilantes.com/blog/2013/07/10/first-home-owner-grants-a-gift-to-new-home-buyers-or-existing/:

The UK’s Help to Buy scheme will take two forms. The first part will offer buyers that qualify an interest-free loan (up to £120,000) from the Government. The second part will see the Government act as guarantor for a proportion of the borrower’s debt.

Well, that's one way to pump up a housing bubble market!

(achinhibitor, the post will probably interest you.)

Comments

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Taking the information from the link helpfully provided by frotz, I see that Los Angeles' ratio in the 3rd quarter of 2012 (same time period as the chart above) is just under 6, or between Toronto and New York.