[Cd00d]

>With a decent down payment (lets say ~15%) that's still less than 5 years salary even with interest

I recently started a mortgage and the guidance I regularly saw was that your home price should not exceed 2.5 years of your income. And, this is with very low interest rates, esp compared to the 80's.

I don't think I couldn't afford the monthly payments on a house that was 5x our household income, even after 20% down and only 3% APR. Then again, maybe I could, but I'm more conservative with my wallet and prefer to have more cash on hand and other investments.

Your cost of living comparison is apt though. Maybe I'd be more comfortable with my mortgage being a larger % of my take home if everything else were significantly cheaper....