[QUOTE=chemgear;2674088]Unfortunately, the long term ratio has been more like 3ish range (Which I assume correlates well to the 33%ish borrowing benchmark of total income for housing costs, etc.)
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/pub...housing-bubble
When you factor in median incomes, the same historic range appears for housing prices. Housing prices for 20 years, prior to 2000, stayed in a narrow range of between 3 and 4 times provincial annual median income.
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There was a completely different philosophy 20 years ago, regarding the use of credit for the average consumer.
People more willing to go into debt to buy what they want today than they were 10, 20, 30 years ago.
I don't think 3x's or 4x's the average household income as a benchmark for housing prices is as relevant as it once was