I play around with mortgage calculators every so often and look at houses in my area. One of them at current rates would have someone paying well over $10k per month at 20% down, not including utilities, food, water, gas, etc. (it is a 1.4 million home). My wife and I were speculating on the type of person who could even afford that, if you follow the rule of don't spend more than 50% of your monthly on rent.