[vineyardmike]

> Different people can obtain different quantities of financing.

And the people that can obtain the most get the best houses, and the people that can get a little bit less get the next tier of houses... until no houses remain (or no buyers).

Here in seattle (for example) we have a lot of SDEs making ~150k. A mortgage company will give you like 500-750k mortgage for that income. Maybe 1M if you have a couple with that income each. Most houses in areas where software engineers want to live all start at 650-700k for decent homes. Because that's the top end of what the buyers can afford, so that's what sellers ask, knowing there is a cohort of buyers that can afford that as a minimum buy price.