The scary part in my opinion is: "Housing is the only thing keeping the Canadian economy afloat."
This more an anecdote than an argument, but I know quite a few people who can barely pay their mortgage or have crazy margin debt (with mortgage) in Canada. I doubt their situation will get any better soon. There is this mentality around here that owning a house is a must or you are some kind of loser.
The way that housing is keeping the Canadian economy afloat is that homes have appreciated a tremendous amount over the last 10 years. In Calgary it's over 2x in 10 years or 9% per year.
In Edmonton and Calgary I can echo that there is a strong social influence in buying real estate. Owning a home is expected. With homes appreciating over 9%/year for 10 years, people assume that that will continue into the distant future.
This more an anecdote than an argument, but I know quite a few people who can barely pay their mortgage or have crazy margin debt (with mortgage) in Canada. I doubt their situation will get any better soon. There is this mentality around here that owning a house is a must or you are some kind of loser.