Housing costs in Vancouver are making life hard for a couple we'll call George and Colleen. George, a physician in a residency program, is 32. Colleen, a school teacher, is 34. With a combined gross income of $67,857, including government benefits for their year-old baby, they would be able to live reasonably well in most towns in Canada. However, in Vancouver, where the prices of houses have risen astronomically, they are just getting by.

They rent a basement apartment for $1,200 a month. With net debt of $33,800 (excluding debts owed to their own registered retirement savings plans), more than half their gross income even when Colleen is working full time, they feel trapped.

Investing in real estate looked so sexy. Like the tech-stock bubble that turned college kids and housewives into day traders, the real estate boom turned insurance brokers, doctors and bicycle mechanics into real estate flippers, who would buy and then quickly sell homes for easy profits.

Now those profits are shrinking fast. Nearly one in five flippers who sold from April to June actually lost money on the deal, the highest level in 2½ years, according to HomeSmartReports.com, which today will release a report on flipping activity in 147 metro areas.