That's not what it implies. The article is just talking about the price of housing in Seattle. The journalist was comparing the cost of the home the family bought, with a theoretical similar house in the city.

Moreover, almost everyone is highly leveraged when "buying" a home. Hell, I my wife and I could swing a 1.5m mortgage if we really wanted to. According to mortgage calculator, a 1.5m house would take 60k down-payment and 1.5k/month[1]. That's very reasonable for a large portion of the population.

I've paid triple that amount in rent for apartments.

[1]: 30-year, 60k realtor cut, 4.2% fixed rate, $2400 property taxes/year, average credit

Edit: Yeah I think the calculator is giving wrong results. There's no way that's possible.