Here in the lower mainland, I think the current prices are the new “standard”, and I don’t expect them to go down. It really isn’t possible for the average consumer making an average salary to buy a free-standing single family home. A two or three bedroom condo is in reach, but only if you are willing to get a 30 year mortgage and pray that interest rates don’t go up.

I can understand why a reporter might get the misguided impression that a million dollar home is something special. Just a decade ago, this was true just about anywhere in Canada. Now, though, there are plenty of places where that kind of price is more or less “normal”: certainly not a price to associate with champagne dreams and caviar lifestyles.