Book excerpt: A newly updated edition for the fast-changing real estate market in Canada! Over the last two decades Canadians have become convinced that real estate is the “safe haven” investment. This widely held belief and obsession with real estate led millions of Canadians to take on massive amounts of debt — tripling their collective financial burden — ensuring that Canada is one of the most indebted nations on the planet. Drawing on dozens of interviews and even more conversations with individual Canadians and couples, this second edition also tackles the economic conditions and regulatory rules that allowed such a dangerous situation to develop in Canada, formerly a nation of conservative and prudent citizens. Hilliard MacBeth argues that Canada is in the midst of an unprecedented real estate bubble and that there will soon be a crash in house prices, triggering a financial crisis. Individual Canadians and families can still take action to protect themselves from the fallout of the bubble bursting — if they act quickly.