I do know of people who decided they couldn't get into the housing market (here in Canada) and have been drawing down their down payment savings to spend. It's

I do know of people who decided they couldn't get into the housing market (here in Canada) and have been drawing down their down payment savings to spend. It's probably a very small portion of this spending increases overall, but interesting to see. Rates here seem to have stabilized for the time being, and house sales are way down, so I think now we're going to finally see housing price declines this spring season. The next 2-3 years will get rough as fixed mortgages renew, with my own mortgage payment expected to increase by nearly 50% at renewal, and 70% of the total payment will go to the increased interest payments alone. The total cost of my mortgage at today's rates would be triple what I signed on for! I don't see how this won't wreak havoc on the average families finances.