Most people want to have some sort of permanent address. If you can afford to buy a home outright, it's cheaper than paying the bank interest, or paying someone else to live in their property.
So I'm not sure why you'd object to this. Everyone needs shelter, and if you can afford to buy it, you save money.
Housing will not bottom until around 2012. Buying now is stupid any way you slice it. You are buying a depreciating asset for no good reason. Furthermore, municipalities all around the country are set to jack property taxes through the roof.
The owner of the representative property on the market for rent right now is losing money every month if they had a mortgage written in then last few years. Rents are cheap. Renters are still subsidized by bozos who think houses will appreciate, or are desperately trying to make their payments.
I'm not sure how applicable all this is to Canada, however, as their property market never went quite so insane. It will probably bottom sooner and after a shorter correction.
Manhattan is one of the biggest bubbles of all. I actually have some short positions betting on that. NYC real estate is going to crash over the next two years.
So I'm not sure why you'd object to this. Everyone needs shelter, and if you can afford to buy it, you save money.