And you thought the Vancouver housing market was insane.
Just check out Silicon Valley!
This is a place where US$1,998,000 (about C$2.7 million) won't even necessarily buy you a big house. In fact, that's what it could cost you to buy a so-called "shack" at 829 La Para Avenue in Palo Alto.
Check out some photos of the Palo Alto shack:
This Cali Shack Can Be Yours For $2.7 million
An Estately listing advertises a 180-square-foot, one-bedroom house on the property as an "exciting opportunity to build your dream home in charming Barron Park neighbourhood."
The entire lot has 6,886 square feet, and it sits on a quiet street close to Stanford University, a farmers' market and bike paths.
Whoever buys the property will be restricted in how much they can build. The City of Palo Alto only allows a maximum above ground floor area of about 2,816 square feet ... and that doesn't include a basement. (The listing warns buyers to fact-check this with the city).
But this isn't the only property that has raised eyebrows in the Bay Area.
Last year, SFGate reported on a Palo Alto property listed for US$1.8 million that you couldn't even live in!
Those prices are proving to be too much for many of the area's people to afford.
In nearby San Jose, fewer than 25 per cent of employees can buy or rent housing at an average price, The Mercury News reported in June.
The housing situation is even making things tough for people with a household income of $250,000, said a study quoted by Business Insider.
The Wealthfront study showed that a couple making that much money would need to obtain strong equity from a startup if they want to save money for retirement, after paying for expenses such as housing or their kids' education.
Vancouver certainly has affordability issues of its own, but these days clearly it's not alone.
