The downtown skyline of Los Angeles, California as seen on January 22, 2024 
Mario Tama/Getty Images/File

US cities on the West Coast and Hawaii occupied five of the top 10 most unaffordable places, according to the annual Demographic International Housing Affordability report, which has been tracking house prices for 20 years.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most expensive US cities to buy home are in California, where San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego have all made the top 10.

Top 10 “impossibly unaffordable” cities

1. Hong Kong
2. Sydney
3. Vancouver
4. San Jose, California
5. Los Angeles
6. Honolulu
7. Melbourne
8. San Francisco/Adelaide
9. San Diego
10. Toronto

I am living in a house in Los Angeles that I bought over 40 years ago. So I am old and now the Los Angeles Department of water and Power just sent me a notice that my monthly bill will increase by 31% effective July 1.

I now take my wife food shopping and the usual weekly bill is about $150. Happily I do not drive my car great distances because the cost of gas is now about $4.50 per gallon.

Should I move to Nevada or Arizona? A cousin of mine moved to the Phoenix area this past summer.