This insanity has been happening for a long time in Canada. I am about to move to the American midwest from Toronto, where a very modest house can cost $2,000,000 CAD. No one who doesn't already have major housing equity can afford anything beyond a small condominium in that city.

Even in my small midwestern city there is a housing boom and people are bidding over the asking price, even over the appraised value of the house. My husband and I recently bought a house here and we had to offer very sweet terms to the sellers or we would have lost it to one of the many others who wanted to buy our house.

In short, there needs to be a housing revolution in North America. There simply are not enough affordable homes for people and it is reaching a crisis point.