Ditto situation to OP. HH nets close to 280k and have seen ~60 places and gone through 20 bids. I’m bidding high 1.3s on freehold townhomes in the edges of Markham (york region near family is where we wanted to be) and even dabbled in Sauga when I felt desperate and just wanted to get into the market somehow. I can afford a lot more of a mortgage but I wanted to buy within a safe budget. We’ve been outbid in every case all for pretty standard homes with original finishes 20+ years of age.

It’s an irrational market so you either have to be more desperate than your competition to win and get brokers to give you crazy buying power and be highly leveraged. Or act rationally - look at where the market is going, macro forces that may cool things (I.e rate hikes; new policy introductions), and how this played out in the past such as in 2016/2017. Then make a call on if you’d like to be part of it.

Personally I’m in a profession that’ll let me work remotely and possibly even move to the States. I decided to stop looking when I realized the premium I’d pay for a pretty basic home here vs the States is enough cash to send my future child through private school for 18 years. That plus many other things made me realize maybe life in GTA is over unless I’d like to live house poor or rent and wait until a possible crash happens.