I used to work with a guy from Belgium that was building a house. He said it was affordable because it came with a 50 year mortgage. The common length in the US is 30 years.
It seems like real estate prices are increasing rapidly in every major city around the world. I hear the same story from London, Sydney, SF etc.
BTW, I would take that 50 year and 30 year fixed mortgage term any day. 30 year fixed at 4.4% seems like extremely good offer from this side of the fence.
Most of the people I know who have bought real estate recently are scraping by and using their basement apartments as mortgage helpers. Another issue I have noticed is the lax standards in issuing mortgages, there are companies writing employment letters for $1-2k in order for couples to qualify for mortgages. Banks and government is wising up but the damage has already been done.