re: Homebuilders cancelling contracts to sell for more on market

It's truly insane out there. My spouse is from the Midwest, I'm from the Southeast. We're finally in a position to settle down now that our jobs are stable, and I'd like to be closer to my own family but we settled on buying here in the Midwest because the costs in the Southeast are just too high. Even here we bought a 1500 sq ft house that needs some work (cosmetic) for what my parents paid for their much larger house in 2004, which at the time they could hardly afford and the price was thought to be nearly unfathomable by most of my extended family. We make good money, probably even decent O-T money, but I still don't understand how so many people are able to purchase these 600k+ houses. We were approved at 700k on paper, but I would never, ever pay that much just for a place to live and I think it would leave our budget tight for anything of the things that I actually enjoy in life.