There's a massive real estate bubble brewing in the Commonwealth, and I'm dying to see how we get out of this one. Instead of crashing in 2008, countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K. decided we just needed more money. The governments in these four countries didn't have a few years to stimulate the economy. Instead they repeatedly slashed interest rates so people could carry more and more debt.

The result? Soaring real estate prices, stagnating incomes, mounting household debt and lowered economic output have sent four of the largest economies in the realm into a massive bubble.

Soaring prices

Home prices are soaring really, really fast in the Commonwealth. Since 2003, prices rose an average of 71 per cent. In contrast, those "debt-crazed" Americans only saw their homes rise 47 per cent. Meanwhile, a more balanced economy like Germany only saw their property rise six per cent.

Note, this isn't hype -- hot markets like London, Vancouver, Auckland or Sydney -- places where developers and politicians are claiming they're being Manhattanized. This number includes places like Atlantic Canada, where populations and industry are declining.

Here's how those four countries look when broken down:

Canada

The land of moose and maple syrup saw property prices climb 80 per cent since 2003. The average benchmark home price in now CA$456,722 (US$348,403), six times the median household income. Remember, experts say you should spend three to four times your annual household income on housing.

United Kingdom

The U.K. was one of the countries that got hit the hardest during the 2006-2008 financial crisis. Even with that minor setback, prices rose 55 per cent since 2003 to £200,251 (US$260,064). That's around nine times the median household income.

Australia

Since 2003, Australian home prices are up 65 per cent. While still below the average, the average benchmark home is now AU$623,000 (US$475,165). That's more than nine times the median income.

New Zealand

New Zealanders had the highest rise in prices of the group. The average benchmark home is now NZ$612,527 (US$443,797), a whopping 84 per cent increase. Again, that's nine times the median income.

Stagnating incomes

There's been minor financial bumps in income, but inflation is consuming the extra money. From 2005-2015, pay increased by one per cent in the U.K., 30 per cent in Canada, 41 per cent in New Zealand and 45 per cent in Australia. Healthy sounding metrics, if the value of that money wasn't decaying so quickly.

When inflation adjusted, those numbers aren't so generous. Australians made 18 per cent over that period, New Zealanders 15 per cent, Canadians nine per cent, and U.K. households made -27.86 per cent. I'll save you from having to re-read that last part: households in the U.K. lost almost a third of their purchasing power. By now you're probably wondering how exactly people are paying for all of these houses?

Scaled Index of Home Prices