Finance Minister Jim Flaherty recently suggested it might be wise to outlaw 40-year mortgages.

"A recent Statistics Canada study showed Canadians are finding themselves with two mortgages and deeper in debt than at any time in their lives. They are increasingly house poor, and with housing values sliding, they often owe more on their properties than they're worth."

"People are incurring large mortgage, line-of-credit and credit-card debt as they spend on renovations and big-screen TVs. Older people are taking on mortgages due to divorce and to finance the home purchases of children unwilling to save for a realistic down payment."

High oil and gas prices together with increasing pressure by the Canadian to combate inflation, interest rates may not stay low for long. A quick spike up in interest rates will dampen the Canadian real estate market that is already heading for a slow down in demand.