For interest sake, here’s the listings in the Hamilton, Ontario, area. You have to go to the pages in the 50s to get something for $550,000 range, and they’re basically dumps or apartments.
Our area is brutal. Fortunately, we sold a house we paid $320,000 for in 2010, last year for $850,000. We cashed in on this insane market, bought a 1200 sq. ft. new mobile home, have set it up on my daughter and SIL’s farm, and used the money to help them and my son. I just couldn’t see sitting on that big real estate payoff when my kids could use the help. Both my daughter & SIL and my son and DIL are the hardest working people I know - but everything is so stacked against young people today. They were making things work on their own, but not without intense struggle. The help just made life a lot less stressful, so I’m glad for that.
In any case … I would suggest that one’s inability to afford housing and other basic needs is one of the biggest indicators that it’s time to move somewhere else.