"You hold a 5 percent fixed-rate 30-year mortgage"

Yeah, no. I know that many people may have loans of this size and I never understood it. And it is of course a reason for high prices.

When my parent's bought a house a typical mortgage was paid off in maybe 10 years. I myself took a loan of 12 years. And not at 5% percent! The real rate is about 0.2% at the moment (and has been 1-2% during the ten years I've been paying). After paying this reasonably sized loan I can buy another house with a similar loan.

I have also heard of 60 year loans! (eg. sweden). Now that is indeed stupid and throwing money away.