Yeh this person's argument makes no sense in the context of today's Ontario, but did about 5+ years ago. Housing price inflation here has made the lower SWE salaries here very uncompetitive.
And it's not just the house itself, goods and services associated with real estate have blown up with it. Home renovations and maintenance work on your home (if you can even find a contractor) are just stupid. So even if you bought in years ago (like I did), the carrying costs are very high.
You need to compare like for like. If you're talking about homes in Kanata, then you need to look at homes the same distance in the East Bay where you can buy for under $1M as well.
A $3M home in Palo Alto is comparable to a Ottawa home in the core of the city. And not a townhome, a detached single family home.
If you're going to compare in this way, wouldn't 'most expensive in the metro area' be San Fransisco compared to 'most expensive in the metro area' downtown Ottawa?
Palo Alto is like Kanata, price wise. Ottawa core is like San Fran.
How one can take a 67% pay cut and have housing still high means you have more in your pocket you’re going to have to explain.